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■BENTON  ADDRESSING    THE   UNITED  STATES 

SENA  TE 

Tro»i  a  Contemporary  K^ii^'-raTmi; 


r 


THE  LIBRARY 
OF  ORATORY 

Ancient  and  Modern 


with  CRITICAL  STUDIES  of  the 
WORLD'S  GREAT  ORATORS 
by  EMINENT  E  S  S  A  Y  I  ST  S 


CHAUNCEY  M.  DEPEW,  LL.D. 

United  States  Senator  from  the  State  of  New  York 

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF 

NATHAN  HASKELL  DOLE 
CAROLINE  TICKNOR      THOMAS  CHARLES  QUINN 

ASSOCIATE  EDITORS 

JEDitton  i)e  Xuie 


IN  FIFTEEN  VOLUMES 
Volume  V 

ILLUSTRATED 


PUBLISHED  BY 

E.  R.  DU  MONT 

NEW  YORK  CHICAGO 


Copyright,  1902 


BY 


J.    C.  TiCHENOR 


f^EMOTE  STORAGE 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

VOLUME  V 


BORN.  PAGE. 

Eliphalet  Nott  1773  I 

"How  Are  the  Mighty  Fallen." 

Daniel  O'Connell  1775  15 

Ireland  Worth  Dying  For. 

Henry  Clay  1777  28 

Dictators  in  American  Politics. 

On  the  Seminole  War   41 

The  Emancipation  of  South  America.    .      .  46 

The  American  System  and  the  Home  Market  59 

For  "Free  Trade  and  Seamen's  Rights."     .  74 

The  Greek  Revolution   80 

Address  to  Lafayette   84 

Reply  to  Randolph   86 

Lord  Brougham  1778  87 

On  Negro  Emancipation. 

Robert  Emmet  1778  105 

Speech  when  under  Sentence  of  Death 

Joseph  Story  1779  115 

Characteristics  of  the  Age. 

William  Ellery  Channing  1780  130 

Char  cter  of  Christ, 

(V) 


vi 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


BORN.  PAGE. 


Thomas  H.  Benton  1782  152 

On  the  Expunging  Resolution. 

EsAiAS  Tegner  1782  168 

Address  before  the  University  of  Lund. 

Daniel  Webster   1782  170 

"-^  Reply  to  Hayne                                         .  171 

v/Bunker  Hill  Monument  Oration.       .     .     .  268 

v-^t  Plymouth  in  1820   293 

In  Commemoration  of  Adams  and  Jefferson.  296 

"■"^^n  the  Murder  of  Joseph  White.     ...  304 

John  C.  Calhoun  1782  309 

On  the  Slavery  Question. 
Lewis  Cass  1782  336 

On  the  Spirit  of  the  Age. 

Lord  Palmerston  1784  348 

On  the  Affairs  of  Greece. 

Charles  Phillips  1789  361 

Speech  at  an  Aggregate  Meeting  of  Roman 
Catholics  at  Cork. 

John  Jordan  Crittenden.   1787  376 

On  the  Crittenden  Compromise. 

GuizoT  1787  389 

Civilization  and  the  Individual  Man.  .  .  390 
Address  at  the  Distribution  of  Prizes  at  the 

University  of  Paris   401 

At  the  Unveiling  of  Statue  of  William  the 

Conqueror.    404 

Sir  Robert  Peel   1788  409 

On  the  Repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws. 

Lamartine   1790  425 

Reply  to  the  Polish  Deputation. 

Congratulatory  Speech   430 

Reply  to  Club  Delegates   432 

5 


TAIiLE  OF  CONTENTS  vii 

BORN.  I'AGP:. 

Richard  Lalor  Sheii   1791  436 

In  Defence  of  Irish  Catholics. 

On  the  Jewish  Disabilities  Bill.       .      .      .  438 

James  Buchanan   1791  448 

Inaugural  Address  (1857) 

Robert  Y.  Hayne   1791  459 

On  Foote's  Resolution 


ELIPHALET  NOTT 


LiPHALKT  NoTT,  an  American  clergyman,  widely  known  as  an  educator, 
and  president  of  Union  College,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.  (1804-G6),  waa  born 
at  Ashford,  Conn.,  June  25,  1773,  and  died  at  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  Jan. 
29,  1866.  He  was  educated  at  Brown  University,  and  after  studying 
theology  became  pastor  of  a  Presbyterian  church  at  Albany,  N.  Y.  (1798-1804).  In 
the  latter  year  he  was  chosen  president  of  Union  College  at  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  and 
remained  at  the  head  of  that  institution  for  the  long  space  of  sixty-two  years.  He 
ruled  the  college  on  the  parental  plan,  and  was  much  beloved  by  successive  generations 
of  students.  He  took  a  deep  interest  in  science,  and  among  his  inventions  for  the 
utilization  of  heat  was  that  of  the  first  stove  for  the  burning  of  anthracite  coal.  As  an 
advocate  of  temperance  and  anti-slavery  he  was  long  prominent,  and  he  also  won  dis- 
tinction as  a  pulpit  orator;  his  most  famous  discourse  (here  appended)  was  a  mem- 
orable and  oft-quoted  sermon  on  the  death  of  Alexander  Hamilton.  His  published 
writings  consist  of  "Miscellaneous  Works"  (1810);  "Counsels  to  Young  Men" 
(1845);  "  Lectures  on  Temperance"  (1847);  and  "The  Resurrection  of  Christ"  (1872). 

"HOW  ARE  THE  MIGHTY  FALLEN" 
DELIVERED  AT  ALBANY.  JULY  9,  1804 

THE  occasion  explains  the  choice  of  my  subject  —  a 
subject  on  which  I  enter  in  obedience  to  your 
request.     You  have   assembled  to   express  your 
elegiac  sorrows,  and  sad  and  solemn  weeds  cover  you. 

Before  such  an  audience  and  on  such  an  occasion  I  enter 
on  the  duty  assigned  me  with  trembling.  Do  not  mistake  my 
meaning.  I  tremble  indeed  —  not,  however,  through  fear 
of  failing  to  merit  your  applause ;  for  what  have  I  to  do  with 
that  when  addressing  the  dying  and  treading  on  the  ashes  of 
the  dead;  not  through  fear  of  failing  justly  to  portray  the 
character  of  that  great  man  who  is  at  once  the  theme  of  my 
encomium  and  regret.  He  needs  not  eulogy.  His  work  is 
finished,  and  death  has  removed  him  beyond  my  censure,  and 

I  would  fondly  hope,  through  grace,  above  my  praise. 
Vol.  6-1  (1) 


2 


ELIPHALET  NOTT 


You  will  ask  then  why  I  tremble  ?  I  tremble  to  think  that 
I  am  called  to  attack,  from  this  place,  a  crime,  the  very  idea 
of  which  almost  freezes  one  with  horror  —  a  crime,  too, 
which  exists  among  the  polite  and  polished  orders  of  society, 
and  which  is  accompanied  with  every  aggravation;  com- 
mitted with  cool  deliberation,  and  openly  in  the  face  of  day! 
But  I  have  a  duty  to  perform :  and  difficult  and  awful  as  that 
duty  is,  I  will  not  shrink  from  it. 

Would  to  God  my  talents  were  adequate  to  the  occasion. 
But  such  as  they  are,  I  devoutly  proffer  them  to  unfold  the 
nature  and  counteract  the  influence  of  that  barbarous  custom 
which  like  a  resistless  torrent  is  undermining  the  founda- 
tions of  civil  government,  breaking  down  the  barriers  of 
social  happiness,  and  sweeping  away  virtue,  talents,  and 
domestic  felicity  in  its  desolating  course. 

Another  and  an  illustrious  character  —  a  father  —  a 
general  —  a  statesman  —  the  very  man  who  stood  on  an 
eminence  and  without  a  rival  among  sages  and  heroes,  the 
future  hope  of  his  country  in  danger  —  this  man,  yielding  to 
the  influence  of  a  custom  which  deserves  our  eternal  repro- 
bation has  been  brought  to  an  untimely  end. 

That  the  deaths  of  great  and  useful  men  should  be  par- 
ticularly noticed  is  equally  the  dictate  of  reason  and  revela- 
tion. The  tears  of  Israel  flowed  at  the  decease  of  good 
Josiah,  and  to  his  memory  the  funeral  women  chanted  the 
solemn  dirge.    .    .  . 

The  Hero,  called  from  his  sequestered  retreat,  whose  first 
appearance  in  the  field,  though  a  stripling,  conciliated  the 
esteem  of  "Washington,  our  good  old  father.  Moving  by 
whose  side,  during  all  the  perils  of  the  Revolution,  our  young 
chieftain  was  a  contributor  to  the  veteran's  glory,  the  guar- 
dian of  his  person,  and  the  co-partner  of  his  toils. 


'  HOW  ARE  THE  MIGHTY  FALLEN  ' 


3 


The  Conqueror,  who,  sparing  of  human  blood  when  victory 
favored,  stayed  the  uplifted  arm  and  nobly  said  to  the  van- 
quished enemy,  "  Live ! 

The  Statesman,  the  correctness  of  whose  principles  and 
the  strength  of  whose  mind  are  inscribed  on  the  records  of 
Congress  and  on  the  annals  of  the  council  chamber;  whose 
genius  impressed  itself  upon  the  constitution  of  his  country; 
and  whose  memory,  the  government  —  illustrious  fabric, 
resting  on  this  basis  —  will  perpetuate  while  it  lasts ;  and 
shaken  by  the  violence  of  party  should  it  fall,  which  may 
heaven  avert,  his  prophetic  declarations  will  be  found  in- 
scribed on  its  ruins. 

The  Counsellor,  who  was  at  once  the  pride  of  the  bar  and 
the  admiration  of  the  court;  whose  apprehensions  were  quick 
as  lightning,  and  whose  development  of  truth  was  luminous 
as  its  path;  whose  argument  no  change  of  circumstances 
could  embarrass;  whose  knowledge  appeared  intuitive;  and 
who  by  a  single  glance,  and  with  as  much  facility  as  the  eye 
of  the  eagle  passes  over  the  landscape,  surveyed  the  whole 
field  of  controversy;  saw  in  what  way  truth  might  be  most 
successfully  defended  and  how  error  must  be  approached; 
and  who,  without  ever  stopping,  ever  hesitating,  by  a  rapid 
and  manly  march,  led  the  listening  judge  and  the  fascinated 
juror,  step  by  step,  through  a  delightsome  region,  brighten- 
ing as  he  advanced,  till  his  argument  rose  to  demonstration, 
and  eloquence  was  rendered  useless  by^  conviction;  whose 
talents  were  employed  on  the  side  of  righteousness;  whose 
voice,  whether  in  the  council  chamber,  or  at  the  bar  of 
justice,  was  virtue's  consolation ;  at  whose  approach  oppressed 
humanity  felt  a  secret  rapture,  and  the  heart  of  injured  inno- 
cence leaped  for  joy. 

Where  Hamilton  was,  in  whatever  sphere  he  moved,  the 


4  ELIPHALET  NOTT 

friendless  had  a  friend,  the  fatherless  a  father,  and  the  poor 
man,  though  unable  to  reward  his  kindness,  found  an  advo- 
cate. It  was  when  the  rich  oppressed  the  poor;  when  the 
powerful  menaced  the  defenceless;  when  truth  was  disre- 
garded or  the  eternal  principles  of  justice  violated;  it  was  on 
these  occasions  that  he  exerted  all  his  strength;  it  was  on 
these  occasions  that  he  sometimes  soared  so  high  and  shone 
with  a  radiance  so  transcendent,  I  had  almost  said,  so 
"  heavenly,  as  filled  those  around  him  with  awe  and  gave  to 
him  the  force  and  authority  of  a  prophet.'^ 

The  Patriot,  whose  integrity  baffled  the  scrutiny  of  inquisi- 
tion; whose  manly  virtue  never  shaped  itself  to  circum- 
stances; who,  always  great,  always  himself,  stood  amidst  the 
varying  tides  of  party,  firm,  like  the  rock  which,  far  from 
land,  lifts  its  majestic  top  above  the  waves  and  remains 
unshaken  by  the  storms  which  agitate  the  ocean. 

The  Friend,  who  knew  no  guile ;  whose  bosom  was  trans- 
parent and  deep;  in  the  bottom  of  whose  heart  was  rooted 
every  tender  and  sympathetic  virtue;  whose  various  worth 
opposing  parties  acknowledged  while  alive,  and  on  whose 
tomb  they  unite,  with  equal  sympathy  and  grief,  to  heap 
their  honors. 

I  know  he  had  his  failings.  I  see,  on  the  picture  of  his 
life  —  a  picture  rendered  awful  by  greatness,  and  luminous 
by  virtue  —  some  dark  shades.  On  these  let  the  tear  that 
pities  human  weakness,  fall;  on  these  let  the  veil  which 
covers  hiiman  frailty  rest.  As  a  hero,  as  a  statesman,  as  a 
patriot,  he  lived  nobly:  and  would  to  God  I  could  add,  ho 
nobly  fell.  Unwilling  to  admit  his  error  in  this  respect,  I  go 
back  to  the  period  of  discussion.  I  see  him  resisting  the 
threatened  interview.  I  imagine  myself  present  in  his 
chamber.    Various  reasons,  for  a  time,  seem  to  hold  his 


'  HOW  ARE  THE  MIGHTY  FALLEN  ' 


5 


determination  in  arrest.  Various  and  moving  objects  pass 
before  him  and  speak  a  dissuasive  language.  His  country, 
which  may  need  his  counsels  to  guide,  and  his  arm  to  defend, 
utters  her  veto.  The  partner  of  his  youth,  already  covered 
with  weeds,  and  whose  tears  flow  down  into  her  bosom,  inter- 
cedes! His  babes,  stretching  out  their  little  hands  and 
pointing  to  a  weeping  mother,  with  lisping  eloquence,  but 
eloquence  which  reaches  a  parent's  heart,  cry  out,  "  Stay, 
stay,  dear  papa,  and  live  for  us!  " 

In  the  meantime  the  spectre  of  a  fallen  son,  pale  and 
ghastly,  approaches,  opens  his  bleeding  bosom  and  as  the 
harbinger  of  death  points  to  the  yawning  tomb  and  warns  a 
hesitating  father  of  the  issue !  He  pauses,  reviews  these  sad 
objects,  and  reasons  on  the  .subject.  I  admire  his  magna- 
nimity, I  approve  his  reasoning,  and  I  wait  to  hear  him 
reject  with  indignation  the  murderous  proposition  and  to 
see  him  spurn  from  his  presence  the  presumptuous  bearer  of 
it.  But  I  wait  in  vain.  It  was  a  moment  in  which  his  great 
wisdom  forsook  him  —  a  moment  in  which  Hamilton  was  not 
himself.  He  yielded  to  the  force  of  an  imperious  custom: 
and,  yielding,  he  sacrificed  a  life  in  which  all  had  an 
interest  —  and  he  is  lost  —  lost  to  his  country,  lost  to  his 
family,  lost  to  us.  For  this  act,  because  he  disclaimed  it  and 
was  penitent,  I  forgive  him.  But  there  are  those  whom  I 
cannot  forgive.  I  mean  not  his  antagonist;  over  whose 
erring  steps,  if  there  be  tears  in  heaven,  a  pious  mother  looks 
down  and  weeps. 

If  he  be  capable  of  feeling,  he  suffers  already  all  that 
humanity  can  suffer  —  suffers,  and  wherever  he  may  fly  will 
suffer,  with  the  poigTiant  recollection  of  having  taken  the  life 
of  one  who  was  too  magnanimous,  in  return,  to  attempt  his 
own.    Had  he  known  this,  it  must  have  paralyzed  his  arm 


6 


ELIPHALET  NOTT 


while  it  pointed  at  so  incorruptible  a  bosom  the  instrument 
of  death.  Does  he  know  this  now?  His  heart,  if  it  be  not 
adamant,  must  soften  —  if  it  be  not  ice,  must  melt.  But  on 
this  article  I  forbear.  Stained  with  blood  as  he  is,  if  he  be 
penitent,  I  forgive  him  —  and  if  he  be  not,  before  these 
altars,  where  all  of  us  appear  as  suppliants,  I  wish  not  to 
excite  your  vengeance,  but  rather,  in  behalf  of  an  object 
rendered  wretched  and  pitiable  by  crime,  to  wake  your 
prayers. 

But  I  have  said,  and  I  repeat  it,  there  are  those  whom  I 
cannot  forgive.  I  cannot  forgive  that  minister  at  the  altar 
who  has  hitherto  forborne  to  remonstrate  on  this  subject. 
I  cannot  forgive  that  public  prosecutor  who,  entrusted  with 
the  duty  of  avenging  his  country's  wrongs,  has  seen  those 
wrongs  and  taken  no  measures  to  avenge  them.  I  cannot 
forgive  that  judge  upon  the  bench,  or  that  governor  in  the 
chair  of  state,  who  has  lightly  passed  over  such  offences.  I 
cannot  forgive  the  public,  in  whose  opinion  the  duellist  finds 
a  sanctuary.  I  cannot  forgive  you,  my  brethren,  who  till 
this  late  hour  have  been  silent  while  successive  murders 
were  committed. 

'No;  I  cannot  forgive  you  that  you  have  not,  in  common 
with  the  freemen  of  this  State,  raised  your  voice  to  the 
powers  that  be  and  loudly  and  explicitly  demanded  an  execu- 
tion of  your  laws;  demanded  this  in  a  manner  which,  if  it 
did  not  reach  the  ear  of  government,  would  at  least  have 
reached  the  heavens  and  pleaded  your  excuse  before  the  God 
that  filleth  them  —  in  whose  presence  as  I  stand  I  should 
not  feel  myself  innocent  of  the  blood  that  crieth  against  us 
had  I  been  silent.  But  I  have  not  been  silent.  Many  of 
you  who  hear  me  are  my  witnesses  —  the  walls  of  yonder 
temple,  where  I  have  heretofore  addressed  you,  are  my  wit- 


'  HOW  ARE  THE  MIGHTY  B^ALLEN 


7 


nesses,  how  freely  I  have  animadverted  on  this  subject  in 
the  presence  both  of  those  who  have  violated  the  laws  and 
of  those  whose  indispensable  duty  it  is  to  see  the  laws  exe- 
cuted on  those  who  violate  them. 

I  enjoy  another  opportunity;  and  would  to  God  I  might 
be  permitted  to  approach  for  once  the  last  scene  of  death. 
Would  to  God  I  could  there  assemble,  on  the  one  side,  the 
disconsolate  mother  with  her  seven  fatherless  children;  and 
on  the  other  those  who  administer  the  justice  of  my  country. 
Could  I  do  this,  I  would  point  them  to  these  sad  objects. 
I  would  entreat  them,  by  the  agonies  of  bereaved  fondness, 
to  listen  to  the  widow's  heartfelt  groans ;  to  mark  the  orphan's 
sighs  and  tears.  And  having  done  this,  I  would  uncover  the 
breathless  corpse  of  Hamilton  —  I  would  lift  from  his  gaping 
wound  his  bloody  mantle  —  I  would  hold  it  up  to  heaven 
before  them,  and  I  would  ask,  in  the  name  of  God,  I  would 
ask  whether  at  the  sight  of  it  they  felt  no  compunction? 

You  will  ask,  perhaps,  what  can  be  done  to  arrest  the  prog- 
ress of  a  practice  which  has  yet  so  many  advocates?  I  answer, 
nothing  —  if  it  be  the  deliberate  intention  to  do  nothing. 
But,  if  otherwise,  much  is  within  our  power.  Let,  then,  the 
governor  see  that  the  laws  are  executed;  let  the  council  dis- 
place the  man  who  offends  against  their  majesty;  let  courts  of 
justice  frown  from  their  bar,  as  unworthy  to  appear  before 
them,  the  murderer  and  his  accomplices ;  let  the  people  declare 
him  unworthy  of  their  confidence  who  engages  in  such  san- 
guinary contests;  let  this  be  done,  and  should  life  still  be 
taken  in  single  combat,  then  the  governor,  the  council,  the 
court,  the  people,  looking  up  to  the  Avenger  of  sin,  may  say, 
"  We  are  innocent,  we  are  innocent.''  Do  you  ask  how  proof 
can  be  obtained?  How  can  it  be  avoided?  The  parties 
return,  hold  up  before  our  eyes  the  instruments  of  death, 


s 


^LIPHALET  NOTT 


publish  to  the  world  the  circumstances  of  their  interview,  and 
even  with  an  air  of  insulting  triumph  boast  how  coolly  and 
deliberately  they  proceeded  in  violating  one  of  the  most  sacred 
laws  of  earth  and  heaven ! 

Ah!  ye  tragic  shores  of  Hoboken,  crimsoned  with  the 
richest  blood,  I  tremble  at  the  crimes  you  record  against  us  — 
the  annual  register  of  murders  which  you  keep  and  send  up  to 
God !  Place  of  inhuman  cruelty !  beyond  the  limits  of  reason, 
of  duty,  and  of  religion,  where  man  assumes  a  more  barbarous 
nature  and  ceases  to  be  man.  What  poignant,  lingering  sor- 
rows do  thy  laAvless  combats  occasion  to  surviving  relatives! 
Ye  who  have  hearts  of  pity  —  je  who  have  experienced  the 
anguish  of  dissolving  friendship  —  who  have  wept,  and  still 
weep,  over  the  moldering  ruins  of  departed  kindred,  ye  can 
enter  into  this  reflection. 

O  thou  disconsolate  widow!  robbed,  so  cruelly  robbed,  and 
in  so  short  a  time,  both  of  a  husband  and  a  son,  what  must  be 
the  plenitude  of  thy  sufferings!  Could  we  approach  thee, 
gladly  would  we  drop  the  tear  of  sympathy  and  pour  into 
thy  bleeding  bosom  the  balm  of  consolation !  But  how  could 
we  comfort  her  whom  God  hath  not  comforted?  To  his 
throne  let  us  lift  up  our  voice  and  weep.  O  God!  if  thou  art 
still  the  widow's  husband  and  the  father  of  the  fatherless,  if 
in  the  fulness  of  thy  goodness  there  be  yet  mercies  in  store  for 
miserable  mortals,  pity,  O  pity  this  afflicted  mother,  and  grant 
that  her  hapless  orphans  may  find  a  friend,  a  benefactor,  a 
father,  in  thee !  On  this  article  I  have  done,  and  may  God 
add  his  blessing. 

But  I  have  still  a  claim  upon  your  patience.  I  cannot  here 
repress  my  feelings  and  thus  let  pass  the  present  opportunity. 

"  How  are  the  mighty  fallen."  And,  regardless  as  we  are  of 
vulgar  deaths,  shall  not  the  fall  of  the  mighty  affect  us?  A 


'  HOW  ARE  THE  MIGHTY  FALLEN  ' 


9 


short  time  since,  and  he  who  is  the  occasion  of  our  sorrows 
was  the  ornament  of  his  country.  He  stood  on  an  eminence, 
and  glory  covered  him.  From  that  eminence  he  has  fallen  — 
suddenly,  forever,  fallen.  His  intercourse  with  the  living 
world  is  now  ended ;  and  those  who  would  hereafter  find  him 
must  seek  him  in  the  grave.  There,  cold  and  lifeless,  is  the 
heart  which  just  now  was  the  seat  of  friendship.  There,  dim 
and  sightless,  is  the  eye  whose  radiant  and  enlivening  orb 
beamed  with  intelligence;  and  there,  closed  forever,  are  those 
lips  on  whose  persuasive  accents  we  have  so  often  and  so 
lately  hung  with  transport!  From  the  darkness  which  rests 
upon  his  tomb  there  proceeds,  methinks,  a  light  in  which  it 
is  clearly  seen  that  those  gaudy  objects  which  men  pursue 
are  only  phantoms.  In  this  light,  how  dimly  shines  the  splen- 
dor of  victory;  how  humble  appears  the  majesty  of  grandeur! 
The  bubble  which  seemed  to  have  so  much  solidity  has  burst; 
and  we  again  see  that  all  below  the  sun  is  vanity. 

True,  the  funeral  eulogy  has  been  pronounced;  the  sad  and 
solemn  procession  has  moved;  the  badge  of  mourning  has 
already  been  decreed,  and  presently  the  sculptured  marble 
will  lift  up  its  front,  proud  to  perpetuate  the  name  of  Ham- 
ilton and  rehearse  to  the  passing  traveller  his  virtues.  Just 
tributes  of  respect!  And  to  the  living  useful.  But  to  him, 
moldering  in  the  narrow  and  humble  habitation,  what  are 
they  ?    How  vain !  how  unavailing ! 

Approach,  and  behold  while  I  lift  from  his  sepulchre  its 
covering!  Ye  admirers  of  his  greatness;  ye  emulous  of  his 
talents  and  his  fame,  approach,  and  behold  him  now.  How 
pale  !  How  silent !  No  martial  bands  admire  the  adroitness 
of  his  movements ;  no  fascinating  throng  weep,  and  melt,  and 
tremble  at  his  eloquence!  Amazing  change!  A  shroud!  a 
coffin!  a  nan'ow,  subterraneous  cabin!    This  is  all  that  now 


10 


ELIPHALET  NOTT 


remains  of  Hamilton!  And  is  this  all  that  remains  of  him? 
During  a  life  so  transitory,  what  lasting  monument,  then,  can 
our  fondest  hopes  erect! 

My  brethren!  we  stand  on  the  borders  of  an  awful  gulf, 
which  is  swallowing  up  all  things  human.  And  is  there, 
amidst  this  universal  wreck,  nothing  stable,  nothing  abiding, 
nothing  immortal,  on  which  poor,  frail,  dying  man  can  fasten? 
Ask  the  hero,  ask  the  statesman,  whose  wisdom  you  have  been 
accustomed  to  revere,  and  he  will  tell  you.  He  will  tell  you, 
did  I  say?  He  has  already  told  you  from  his  death-bed,  and 
his  illumined  spirit  still  whispers  from  the  heavens,  with  well- 
known  eloquence,  the  solemn  admonition. 

"Mortals!  hastening  to  the  tomb,  and  once  the  companions 
of  my  pilgrimage,  take  warning  and  avoid  my  errors ;  cultivate 
the  virtues  I  have  recommended;  choose  the  Saviour  I  have 
chosen ;  live  disinterestedly ;  live  for  immortality ;  and,  would 
you  rescue  anything  from  final  dissolution,  lay  it  up  in  God.'' 

Thus  speaks,  methinks,  our  deceased  benefactor,  and  thus 
he  acted  during  his  last  sad  hours.  To  the  exclusion  of  every 
other  concern,  religion  now  claims  all  his  thoughts.  Jesus! 
Jesus,  is  now  his  only  hope.  The  friends  of  Jesus  are  his 
friends;  the  ministers  of  the  altar  his  companions.  While 
these  intercede,  he  listens  in  awful  silence,  or  in  profound 
submission  whispers  his  assent.  Sensible,  deeply  sensible  of 
his  sins,  he  pleads  no  merit  of  his  own.  He  repairs  to  the 
mercy-seat,  and  there  pours  out  his  penitential  sorrows, 
there  he  solicits  pardon.  Heaven,  it  should  seem,  heard  and 
pitied  the  suppliant's  cries.  Disburdened  of  his  sorrows,  and 
looking  up  to  God,  he  exclaims,  "Grace,  rich  grace."  "I 
have,"  said  he,  clasping  his  dying  hands,  and  with  faltering 
tongue,  "I  have  a  tender  reliance  on  the  mercy  of  God  in 
Christ."    In  token  of  this  reliance,  and  as  an  expression  of  his. 


'  HOW  ARE  THE  MIGHTY  FALLEN  ' 


11 


faith,  he  receives  the  holy  sacrament;  and  having  done  this, 
his  mind  becomes  tranquil  and  serene.  Thus  he  remains, 
thoughtful  indeed,  but  unruffled  to  the  last,  and  meets  death 
with  an  air  of  dignified  composure  and  with  an  eye  directed  to 
the  heavens. 

This  last  act,  more  than  any  other,  sheds  glory  on  his  char- 
acter. Everything  else  death  effaces.  Religion  alone  abides 
with  him  on  his  death-bed.  He  dies  a  Christian.  This  is  all 
which  can  be  enrolled  of  him  among  the  archives  of  eternity. 
This  is  all  that  can  make  his  name  great  in  heaven.  Let  not 
the  sneering  infidel  persuade  you  that  this  last  act  of  homage 
to  the  Saviour  resulted  from  an  enfeebled  state  of  mental 
faculties  or  from  perturbation  occasioned  by  the  near 
approach  of  death.  'No;  his  opinions  concerning  the  divine 
mission  of  Jesus  Christ  and  the  validity  of  the  holy  Scriptures 
had  long  been  settled,  and  settled  after  laborious  investigation 
and  extensive  and  deep  research.  These  opinions  were  not 
concealed.  I  knew  them  myself.  Some  of  you,  who  hear 
me,  knew  them;  and  had  his  life  been  spared  it  was  his  deter- 
mination to  have  published  them  to  the  world,  together  with 
the  facts  and  reasons  on  which  they  were  founded. 

At  a  time  when  scepticism,  shallow  and  superficial  indeed, 
but  depraved  and  malignant,  is  breathing  forth  its  pestilential 
vapor,  and  polluting,  by  its  unhallowed  touch,  everything 
divine  and  sacred,  it  is  consoling  to  a  devout  mind  to  reflect 
that  the  great  and  the  wise  and  the  good  of  all  ages,  those 
superior  geniuses  whose  splendid  talents  have  elevated  them 
almost  above  mortality  and  placed  them  next  in  order  to 
angelic  natures  —  yes,  it  is  consoling  to  a  devout  mind  to 
reflect  that  while  dwarfish  infidelity  lifts  up  its  deformed 
head  and  mocks  these  illustrious  personages,  though  living 
in  different  ages,  inhabiting  different  countries,  nurtured  in 


12 


EIIPHALET  NOTT 


different  schools,  destined  to  different  pursuits,  and  differing 
on  various  subjects,  should  all,  as  if  touched  with  an  impulse 
from  heaven,  agree  to  vindicate  the  sacredness  of  revelation 
and  present  with  one  accord  their  learning,  their  talents,  and 
their  virtue  on  the  gospel  altar  as  an  offering  to  Emanuel. 

This  is  not  exaggeration.  Who  was  it  that,  over-leaping 
the  narrow  bounds  which  had  hitherto  been  set  to  the  human 
mind,  ranged  abroad  through  the  immensity  of  space,  dis- 
covered and  illustrated  those  laws  by  which  the  Deity  unites, 
binds,  and  governs  all  things  ?  Who  was  it,  soaring  into  the 
sublime  of  astronomic  science,  numbered  the  stars  of  heaven, 
measured  their  spheres,  and  called  them  by  their  names?  It 
was  Newton.  But  Newton  was  a  Christian.  Newton,  great 
as  he  was,  receiA^ed  instruction  from  the  lips  and  laid  his 
honors  at  the  feet  of  Jesus.  Who  was  it  that  developed  the 
hidden  combination,  the  component  parts  of  bodies?  Who 
was  it  dissected  the  animal,  examined  the  flower,  penetrated 
the  earth,  and  ranged  the  extent  of  organic  nature?  It  was 
Boyle.  But  Boyle  was  a  Christian.  Who  was  it  that  lifted 
the  veil  which  had  for  ages  covered  the  intellectual  world, 
analyzed  the  human  mind,  defined  its  powers,  and  reduced 
its  operations  to  certain  and  fixed  laws?  It  was  Locke.  But 
Locke  too  was  a  Christian. 

What  more  shall  I  say  ?  For  time  would  fail  me  to  speak  of 
Hale,  learned  in  the  law;  of  Addison,  admired  in  the  schools; 
of  Milton,  celebrated  among  the  poets;  and  of  Washington, 
immortal  in  the  field  and  the  cabinet.  To  this  catalogue  of  pro- 
fessing Christians,  from  among,  if  I  may  speak  so,  a  higher 
order  of  beings,  may  now  be  added  the  name  of  Alexander 
Hamilton  —  a  name  which  raises  in  the  mind  the  idea  of 
whatever  is  great,  whatever  is  splendid,  whatever  is  illustrious 
in  human  nature;  and  which  is  now  added  to  a  catalogue 


HOW  ARE  THE  MIGHTY  FALLEN 


13 


which  might  be  lengthened  —  and  lengthened  —  and  length- 
ened, with  the  names  of  illustrious  characters  whose  lives 
have  blessed  society  and  whose  works  form  a  column  high 
as  heaven ;  a  column  of  learning,  of  wisdom,  and  of  greatness, 
which  will  stand  to  future  ages,  an  eternal  monument  of  the 
transcendent  talents  of  the  advocates  of  Christianity,  Avhen 
every  fugitive  leaf  from  the  pen  of  the  canting  infidel 
witlings  of  the  day  shall  be  swept  by  the  tide  of  time  from  the 
annals  of  the  world  and  buried  with  the  names  of  their 
authors  in  oblivion. 

To  conclude.  "How  are  the  mighty  fallen!"  Fallen 
before  the  desolating  hand  of  death.  Alas!  the  ruins  of 
the  tomb  I  The  ruins  of  the  tomb  are  an  emblem  of  the  ruins 
of  the  world;  when  not  an  individual,  but  a  universe,  already 
marred  by  sin  and  hastening  to  dissolution,  shall  agonize  and 
die!  Directing  your  thoughts  from  the  one,  fix  them  for  a 
moment  on  the  other.  Anticipate  the  concluding  scene,  the 
final  catastrophe  of  nature,  when  the  sign  of  the  Son  of  man 
shall  be  seen  in  heaven;  when  the  Son  of  man  himself  shall 
appear  in  the  glory  of  his  Father,  and  send  forth  judgment 
unto  victory.  The  fiery  desolation  envelops  towns,  palaces, 
and  fortresses;  the  heavens  pass  away!  the  earth  melts!  and 
all  those  magnificent  productions  of  art  which  ages  heaped 
on  ages  have  reared  up  are  in  one  awful  day  reduced  to 
ashes. 

Against  the  ruins  of  that  day,  as  well  as  the  ruins  of  the 
tomb  which  precede  it,  the  gospel,  in  the  cross  of  its  great 
High  Priest,  offers  you  all  a  sanctuary;  a  sanctuary  secure 
and  abiding;  a  sanctuary  which  no  lapse  of  time  nor  change 
of  circumstances  can  destroy.  'No;  neither  life  nor  death. 
No;  neither  principalities  nor  powers. 

Everything  else  is  fugitive;  everything  else  is  mutable; 


14 


ELIPHALET  NOTT 


everything  else  will  fail  you.  But  this,  the  citadel  of  the 
Christianas  hopes,  will  never  fail  you.  Its  base  is  adamant. 
It  is  cemented  with  the  richest  blood.  The  ransomed  of  the 
Lord  crowd  its  portals.  Embosomed  in  the  dust  which  it 
encloses,  the  bodies  of  the  redeemed  "  rest  in  hope."  On  its 
top  dwells  the  Church  of  the  first-born,  who  in  delightful 
response  with  the  angels  of  light  chant  redeeming  love. 
Against  this  citadel  the  tempest  beats,  and  around  it  the 
storm  rages  and  spends  its  force  in  vain.  Immortal  in  its 
nature,  and  incapable  of  change,  it  stands,  and  stands  firm, 
amidst  the  ruins  of  a  moldering  world,  and  endures  forever. 

Thither  fly,  ye  prisoners  of  hope!  —  that  when  earth,  air, 
elements,  shall  have  passed  away,  secure  of  existence  and 
felicity,  you  may  join  with  saints  in  glory  to  perpetuate  the 
song  which  lingered  on  the  faltering  tongue  of  Hamilton, 
"  Grace  —  rich  Grace." 

God  grant  us  this  honor.  Then  shall  the  measure  of  our 
joy  be  full,  and  to  his  name  shall  be  the  glory  in  Christ. 


DANIEL  O'CONNELL 


DAI^^IEL  O'CONNELL 


ANIEL,  O'CoNNELL,  a  famous  Irish  lawyer  and  orator,  known  familiarly  as 
the  "Liberator,"  the  Irish  "agitator,"  and  champion  of  Catholic  Emanci- 
pation, was  born  of  an  old  family  that  had  been  implicated  in  the 
rebellion  of  1641.  The  place  of  his  birth  was  Carhen,  County  Kerry, 
Ireland,  and  the  date  Aug.  6,  1775.  His  elementary  education  was  received  at  Cork, 
after  which  he  studied  at  the  colleges  of  St.  Omer  and  Douay,  and  in  1798  was 
called  to  the  Irish  Bar.  At  the  latter  his  skill  in  addressing  juries  was  phenomenal, 
and  brought  him  much  legal  practice;  while  he  had  a  wonderful  command  over 
popular  audiences  at  public  meetings  and  in  addresses  from  the  hustings,  especially 
if  they  had  gathered  to  hear  a  speech  from  the  great  orator  on  the  repeal  of  the 
Union,  which  to  the  last  day  of  his  life  he  strove,  though  strove  hopelessly,  to  bring 
about.  For  this  and  other  seditious  speeches  at  monster  meetings  of  the  Irish  people 
he  was  twice  prosecuted ;  but  luck  and  the  advocacy  of  friends  in  high  quarters 
relieved  him  on  both  occasions  from  the  imposed  fines  and  imprisonment.  In  1828, 
he  was  elected  to  the  English  Parliament,  and  there,  besides  harrying  the  Conserva- 
tives and  some  ministries,  he  did  great  service  in  compelling  the  government  to 
grant  Catholic  Emancipation.  The  appended  speech  on  Irish  autonomy,  the  ever- 
present  hope  of  his  heart,  is  characteristic  of  his  oratory.  Though  possessed  of  no 
wide  political  intelligence,  and  somewhat  unsound  in  his  reasoning,  with  a  mind 
fettered  by  Catholic  teaching,  O'Connell  was  a  great  force  in  his  day,  made  the  more 
effective  by  his  humor,  sarcasm,  and  power  of  passionate  utterance.  He  died  at 
Genoa,  Italy,  May  15,  1847,  in  his  seventy-fourth  year,  his  health  broken  by  the 
failure  of  the  Repeal  movement,  and  by  the  misery  and  wretchedness  of  his  beloved 
Ireland. 

IRELAND  WORTH  DYING  FOR 

DELIVERED  AT  MULLAGHMAST  IN  FAVOR  OF  ANNULLING  THE  UNION 
WITH  ENGLAND.  SEPTEMBER,  1843 

I ACCEPT  with  the  greatest  alacrity  the  high  honor  yon 
have  done  me  in  calling  me  to  the  chair  of  this  ma- 
jestic meeting.  I  feel  more  honored  than  I  ever  did 
in  my  life,  with  one  single  exception,  and  that  related  to, 
if  possible,  an  equally  majestic  meeting  at  Tara.  But  I 
must  say  that  if  a  comparison  were  instituted  between 
them,  it  would  take  a  more  discriminating  eye  than  mine 
to  discover  any  difiEerence  between  them.    There  are  the 

(15) 


16 


DANIEL  O^CONNELL 


same  incalculable  numbers;  there  is  the  same  firmness; 
there  is  the  same  determination;  there  is  the  same  exhibi* 
tion  of  love  to  old  Ireland;  there  is  the  same  resolution 
not  to  violate  the  peace;  not  to  be  guilty  of  the  slightest 
outrage;  not  to  give  the  enemy  power  by  committing  a 
crime,  but  peacefully  and  manfully  to  stand  together  in 
the  open  day,  to  protest  before  man  and  in  the  presence 
of  God  against  the  iniquity  of  continuing  the  Onion. 

At  Tara,  I  protested  against  the  Union — 1  repeat  the 
protest  at  Mullaghmast.  I  declare  solemnly  my  thorough 
conviction  as  a  constitutional  lawyer,  that  the  Union  is 
totally  void  in  point  of  principle  and  of  constitutional 
force.  I  tell  you  that  no  portion  of  the  empire  had  the 
power  to  traffic  on  the  rights  and  liberties  of  the  Irish 
people.  The  Irish  people  nominated  them  to  make  laws, 
and  not  legislatures.  They  were  appointed  to  act  under 
the  Constitution,  and  not  annihilate  it.  Their  delegation 
from  the  people  was  confined  within  the  limits  of  the 
Constitution,  and  the  moment  the  Irish  Parliament  went 
beyond  those  limits  and  destroyed  the  Constitution,  that 
moment  it  annihilated  its  own  power,  but  could  not  anni- 
hilate the  immortal  spirit  of  liberty,  which  belongs,  as  a 
rightful  inheritance,  to  the  people  of  Ireland.  Take  it 
then  from  me  that  the  Union  is  void.  I  admit  there  is  the 
force  of  a  law,  because  it  has  been  supported  by  the  police- 
man's truncheon,  by  the  soldier's  bayonet,  and  by  the 
horseman's  sword;  because  it  is  supported  by  the  courts 
of  law  and  those  who  have  power  to  adjudicate  in  them; 
but  I  say  solemnly,  it  is  not  supported  by  constitutional 
right.  The  Union,  therefore,  in  my  thorough  conviction, 
is  totally  void,  and  I  avail  myself  of  this  opportunity  to 
announce  to  several  hundreds  of  thousands  of  my  fellow- 


IRELAND  WORTH  DYING  FOB 


17 


gabjects  that  the  Union  is  an  unconstitutional  law  and 
that  it  is  not  fated  to  last  long — its  hour  is  approaching. 
America  offered  us  her  sympathy  and  support.  We  re- 
fused the  support,  but  we  accepted  the  sympathy;  and 
while  we  accepted  the  sympathy  of  the  Americans,  we 
stood  upon  the  firm  ground  of  the  right  of  every  human 
being  to  liberty;  and  1,  in  the  name  of  the  Irish  nation, 
declare  that  no  support  obtained  from  America  should  be 
purchased  by  'the  price  of  abandoning  principle  for  one 
moment,  and  that  principle  is  that  every  human  being  is 
entitled  to  freedom. 

My  friends,  I  want  nothing  for  the  Irish  but  their 
country,  and  I  think  the  Irish  are  competent  to  obtain 
their  own  country  for  themselves.  I  like  to  have  the 
sympathy  of  every  good  man  everywhere,  but  I  want 
not  armed  support  or  physical  strength  from  any  country. 
The  Republican  party  in  France  offered  me  assistance.  I 
thanked  them  for  their  sympathy,  but  I  distinctly  refused 
to  accept  any  support  from  them.  I  want  support  from 
neither  France  nor  America,  and  if  that  usurper,  Louis 
Philippe,  who  trampled  on  the  liberties  of  his  own  gallant 
nation,  thought  fit  to  assail  me  in  his  newspaper,  I  re- 
turned the  taunt  with  double  vigor,  and  I  denounce  him 
to  Europe  and  the  world  as  a  treacherous  tyrant,  who  has 
violated  the  compact  with  his  own  country,  and  therefore 
is  not  fit  to  assist  the  liberties  of  any  other  country.  I 
want  not  the  support  of  France;  I  want  not  the  support 
of  America;  I  have  physical  support  enough  about  me  to 
achieve  any  change;  but  you  know  well  that  it  is  not  my 
plan — I  will  not  risk  the  safety  of  one  of  you.  I  could 
not  afford  the  loss  of  one  of  you — I  will  protect  you  all, 
and  it  is  better  for  you  all  to  be  merry  and  alive,  to  enjoy 

Vol.  5—2 


18 


DANIEL  O'CONNELL 


the  repeal  of  the  Union;  but  there  is  not  a  man  of  you 
there  that  would  not,  if  we  were  attacked  unjustly  and 
illegally,  be  ready  to  stand  in  the  open  field  by  my  side. 
Let  every  man  that  concurs  in  that  sentiment  lift  up 
his  hand. 

[All  hands  were  lifted] 

The  assertion  of  that  sentiment  is  our  sure  protection, 
for  no  person  will  attack  us,  and  we  will  attack  nobody. 
Indeed,  it  would  be  the  height  of  absurdity  for  us  to  think 
of  making  any  attack;  for  there  is  not  one  man  in  his 
senses  in  Europe  or  America  that  does  not  admit  that  the 
repeal  of  the  Union  is  now  inevitable.  The  English  papers 
taunted  us,  and  their  writers  laughed  us  to  scorn;  but  now 
they  admit  that  it  is  impossible  to  resist  the  applicati<>n 
for  repeal.  More  power  to  you.  But  that  even  shows  wo 
have  power  enough  to  know  how  to  use  it.  Why,  it  is 
only  this  week  that  one  of  the  leading  London  newspapers, 
called  the  "Morning  Herald,"  which  had  a  reporter  at  the 
Lismore  meeting,  published  an  account  of  that  great  and 
mighty  meeting,  and  in  that  account  the  writer  expressly 
says  that  it  will  be  impossible  to  refuse  so  peaceable,  so 
determined,  so  unanimous  a  people  as  the  people  of  Ire- 
land the  restoration  of  their  domestic  legislature.  For  my 
own  part,  I  would  have  thought  it  wholly  unnecessary  to 
call  together  so  large  a  meeting  as  this,  but  for  the  trick 
played  by  Wellington,  and  Peel,  and  Graham,  and  Stanley, 
and  the  rest  of  the  paltry  administration,  by  whose  govern- 
ment this  country  is  disgraced.  I  don't  suppose  so  worth- 
less an  administration  ever  before  got  togethero  Lord 
Stanley  is  a  renegade  from  Whiggism,  and  Sir  James 
Graham  is  worse.    Sir  Kobert  Peel  has  five  hundred  colors 


IRELAND  WORTH  DYING  FOR 


19 


on  his  bad  standard,  and  not  one  of  them  is  permanent. 
To-day  it  is  orange,  to-morrow  it  will  be  green,  the  day 
after  neither  one  nor  the  other,  but  we  shall  take  care 
that  it  shall  never  be  dyed  in  blood. 

Then  there  is  the  poor  old  Duke  of  Wellington,  and 
nothing  was  ever  so  absurd  as  their  deification  of  him  in 
England.  The  English  historian — rather  the  Scotch  one — 
Alison,  an  arrant  Tory,  admits  that  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton was  surprised  at  Waterloo,  and  if  he  got  victoriously 
out  of  that  battle,  it  was  owing  to  the  valor  of  the  British 
troops  and  their  unconquerable  determination  to  die,  but 
not  to  yield.  No  man  is  ever  a  good  soldier  but  the  man 
who  goes  into  the  battle  determined  to  conquer  or  not 
come  back  from  the  battlefield.  No  other  principle  makes 
a  good  soldier ;  conquer  or  die  is  the  battle-cry  for  the  good 
soldier;  conquer  or  die  is  his  only  security.  The  Duke  of 
Wellington  had  troops  at  Waterloo  that  had  learned  that 
word,  and  there  were  Irish  troops  among  them.  You  all 
remember  the  verses  made  by  poor  Shan  Van  Vocht: 

•*At  famed  "Waterloo 
Duke  Wellington  would  look  blue 
If  Paddy  was  not  there  too, 
Says  the  Shan  Yan  Vocht.'* 

Yes,  the  glory  he  got  there  was  bought  by  the  blood 
of  the  English,  Irish,  and  Scotch  soldiers — the  glory  was 
yours.  He  is  nominally  a  member  of  the  administration, 
but  yet  they  would  not  intrust  him  with  any  kind  of 
of&ce.  He  has  no  duty  at  all  to  perform,  but  a  sort  of 
Irish  anti-repeal  warden.  I  thought  I  never  would  be 
obliged  to  the  Ministry,  but  I  am  obliged  to  them.  They 
put  a  speech  abusing  the  Irish  into  the  Queen *s  mouth. 
They  accused  us  of  disaffection,  but  they  lied;  it  is  their 


20 


DANIEL  O'CONNELL 


speech;  there  is  no  disafiection  in  Ireland.  We  were 
lojal  to  the  sovereigns  of  Great  Britain,  even  when  they 
were  our  enemies;  we  were  loyal  to  George  III.  even 
when  he  betrayed  us;  we  were  loyal  to  George  IV.  when 
he  blubbered  and  cried  when  we  forced  him  to  emancipate 
us;  we  were  loyal  to  old  Billy,  though  his  Minister  put 
into  his  mouth  a  base,  bloody,  and  intolerant  speech  against 
Ireland;  and  we  are  loyal  to  the  Queen,  no  matter  what 
our  enemies  may  say  to  the  contrary.  It  is  not  the  Queen's 
speech,  and  I  pronounce  it  to  be  a  lie.  There  is  no  dis- 
satisfaction in  Ireland,  but  there  is  this — a  full  determina- 
tion to  obtain  justice  and  liberty.  I  am  much  obliged  to 
the  Ministry  for  that  speech,  for  it  gives  me,  among  other 
things,  an  opportunity  of  addressing  such  meetings  as 
this.  I  had  held  the  monster  meetings.  I  had  fully  dem- 
onstrated the  opinion  of  Ireland.  I  was  convinced  their 
unanimous  determination  to  obtain  liberty  was  sufficiently 
signified  by  the  many  meetings  already  held;  but  when 
the  Minister's  speech  came  out,  it  was  necessary  to  do 
something  more.  Accordingly,  I  called  a  monster  meeting 
at  Loughrea.  I  called  another  meeting  in  Cliffden.  I  had 
another  monster  meeting  in  Lismore,  and  here  now  we  are 
assembled  on  the  Eath  of  Mullaghmast. 

At  Mullaghmast  (and  I  have  chosen  this  for  this  obvi- 
ous reason),  we  are  on  the  precise  spot  where  English 
treachery — ay,  and  false  Irish  treachery,  too — consum- 
mated a  massacre  that  has  never  been  imitated,  save  in 
the  massacre  of  the  Mamelukes  by  Mehemet  Ali.  It  was 
necessary  to  have  Turks  atrocious  enough  to  commit  a 
crime  equal  to  that  perpetrated  by  Englishmen.  But  do 
not  think  that  the  massacre  of  Mullaghmast  was  a  ques- 
tion between  Protestants  and  Catholics — it  was  no  such 


IRELAND  WORTH  DYING  FOR 


21 


thing.  The  murdered  persons  were  to  be  sure  Catholics, 
but  a  great  number  of  the  murderers  ^rere  also  Catholic 
and  Irishmen,  because  there  were  then,  as  well  as  now, 
many  Catholics  who  were  traitors  to  Ireland.  But  we 
have  now  this  advantage,  that  we  may  have  many  honest 
Protestants  joining  us — joining  us  heartily  in  hand  and 
heart,  for  old  Ireland  and  liberty.  I  thought  this  a  fit 
and  becoming  spot  to  celebrate,  in  the  open  day,  our  una- 
nimity in  declaring  our  determination  not  to  be  misled  by 
any  treachery.  Oh,  my  friends,  I  will  keep  you  clear  of 
all  treachery — there  shall  be  no  bargain,  no  compromise 
with  England — we  shall  take  nothing  but  repeal,  and  a 
Parliament  in  College  Green.  You  will  never,  by  my  ad- 
vice, confide  in  any  false  hopes  they  hold  out  to  you; 
never  confide  in  anything  coming  from  them,  or  cease 
from  your  struggle,  no  matter  what  promise  may  be  held 
to  you,  until  you  hear  me  say  I  am  satisfied;  and  I  will 
tell  you  where  I  will  say  that — near  the  statue  of  King 
William,  in  College  Green.  No;  we  came  here  to  express 
our  determination  to  die  to  a  man,  if  necessary,  in  the 
cause  of  old  Ireland.  We  came  to  take  advice  of  each 
other,  and,  above  all,  I  believe  you  came  here  to  take 
my  advice.  I  can  tell  you,  I  have  the  game  in  my  hand 
— I  have  the  triumph  secure — I  have  the  repeal  certain, 
if  you  but  obey  my  advice. 

I  will  go  slow — you  must  allow  me  to  do  so — but  you 
will  go  sure.  No  man  shall  find  himself  imprisoned  or 
persecuted  who  follows  my  advice.  I  have  led  you  thus 
far  in  safety;  I  have  swelled  the  multitude  of  repealers 
until  they  are  identified  with  the  entire  population,  or 
nearly  the  entire  population,  of  the  land,  for  seven-eighths 
of  the  Irish  people  are  now  enrolling  themselves  repeal- 


22 


DANIEL  O'CONNELL 


ers.  [Cheers  and  cries  of  "More  power  to  you."]  I  don't 
want  more  power;  1  have  power  enough;  and  all  I  ask  of 
you  is  to  allow  me  to  use  it.  I  will  go  on  quietly  and 
slowly,  but  I  will  go  on  firmly,  and  with  a  certainty  of 
success.  I  am  now  arranging  a  plan  for  the  formation 
of  the  Irish  House  of  Commons. 

It  is  a  theory,  but  it  is  a  theory  that  may  be  realized 
in  three  weeks.  The  repeal  arbitrators  are  beginning  to 
act;  the  people  are  submitting  their  difierences  to  men 
chosen  by  themselves.  You  will  see  by  the  newspapers 
that  Doctor  Gray  and  my  son,  and  other  gentlemen,  have 
already  held  a  petty  session  of  their  own,  where  justice 
will  be  administered  free  of  all  expense  to  the  people. 
The  people  shall  have  chosen  magistrates  of  their  own  in 
the  room  of  the  magistrates  who  have  been  removed. 
The  people  shall  submit  their  differences  to  them,  and 
shall  have  strict  justice  administered  to  them  that  shall 
not  cost  them  a  single  farthing.  I  shall  go  on  with  that 
plan  until  we  have  all  disputes  settled  and  decided  by 
justices  appointed  by  the  people  themselves.  ["Long  may 
you  live!"]  I  wish  to  live  long  enough  to  have  perfect 
justice  administered  to  Ireland,  and  liberty  proclaimed 
throughout  the  land.  It  will  take  me  some  time  to  pre- 
pare my  plan  for  the  formation  of  the  new  Irish  House 
of  Commons — that  plan  which  we  will  yet  submit  to  her 
Majesty  for  her  approval  when  she  gets  rid  of  her  pres- 
ent paltry  administration  and  has  one  that  I  can  support. 
But  I  must  finish  that  job  before  I  go  forth,  and  one  of 
my  reasons  for  calling  you  together  is  to  state  my  inten- 
tions to  you.  Before  I  arrange  my  plan,  the  Conciliation 
Hall  will  be  finished,  and  it  will  be  worth  any  man's 
while  to  go  from  Mullaghmast  to  Dublin  to  see  it. 


IRELAND  WORTH  DYING  FOR 


23 


When  we  have  it  arranged  I  will  call  together  three 
hundred,  as  the  Times"  called  them,  "bogtrotters,"  but 
better  men  never  stepped  on  pavement.  But  I  will  have 
the  three  hundred,  and  no  thanks  to  them.  Wales  is  up 
at  present,  almost  in  a  state  of  insurrection.  The  people 
there  have  found  that  the  landlords'  power  is  too  great, 
and  has  been  used  tyrannically,  and  I  believe  you  agree 
with  them  tolerably  well  in  that.  They  insist  on  the  sa- 
credness  of  the  right  of  the  tenants  to  security  of  posses- 
sion, and  with  the  equity  of  tenure  which  I  would  estab- 
lish we  will  do  the  landlords  full  justice,  but  we  will  do 
the  people  justice  also.  We  will  recollect  that  the  land 
is  the  landlord's,  and  let  him  have  the  benefit  of  it,  but 
we  will  also  recollect  that  the  labor  belongs  to  the  tenant, 
and  the  tenant  must  have  the  value  of  his  labor,  not 
transitory  and  by  the  day,  but  permanently  and  by  the 
year.  Yes,  my  friends,  for  this  purpose  I  must  get  some 
time.  I  worked  the  present  repeal  year  tolerably  well. 
I  believe  no  one  in  January  last  would  believe  that  we 
could  have  such  a  meeting  within  the  year  as  the  Tara 
demonstration.  You  may  be  sure  of  this — and  I  say  it  in 
the  presence  of  Him  who  will  judge  me — that  I  never  will 
wilfully  deceive  you.  I  have  but  one  wish  under  Heaven, 
and  that  is  for  the  liberty  and  prosperity  of  Ireland.  I 
am  for  leaving  England  to  the  English,  Scotland  to  the 
Scotch,  but  we  must  have  Ireland  for  the  Irish.  I  will 
not  be  content  until  I  see  not  a  single  man  in  any  office, 
from  the  lowest  constable  to  the  Lord  Chancellor,  but 
Irishmen.  This  is  our  land,  and  we  must  have  it.  We 
will  be  obedient  to  the  Queen,  joined  to  England  by  the 
golden  link  of  the  Crown,  but  we  must  have  our  own 
Parliament,  our  own  bench,  our  own  magistrates,  and  we 


24 


DANIEL  O'CONNELL 


will  give  some  of  the  shoneens  who  now  occupy  tho  bench 
leave  to  retire,  such  as  those  lately  appointed  by  Sugden. 
He  is  a  pretty  boy,  sent  here  from  England;  but  I  ask: 
Did  you  ever  hear  such  a  name  as  he  has  got?  I  re- 
member, in  Wexford,  a  man  told  me  he  had  a  pig  at 
home  which  he  was  so  fond  of  that  he  would  call  it  Sug- 
den. No;  we  shall  get  judicial  independence  for  Ireland. 
It  is  for  this  purpose  we  are  assembled  here  to-day,  as 
every  countenance  I  see  around  me  testifies.  If  -there  is 
any  one  here  who  is  for  the  Union,  let  him  say  so.  Is 
there  anybody  here  for  the  repeal?  [Cries  of  "All,  all!"] 
Yes,  my  friends,  the  Union  was  begot  in  iniquity — it 
was  perpetuated  in  fraud  and  cruelty.  It  was  no  com- 
pact, no  bargain,  but  it  was  an  act  of  the  most  decided 
tyranny  and  corruption  that  was  ever  yet  perpetrated. 
Trial  by  jury  was  suspended — the  right  of  personal  pro- 
tection was  at  an  end — courts-martial  sat  throughout  the 
land — and  the  county  of  Kildare,  among  others,  flowed 
with  blood.  Oh,  my  friends,  listen  now  to  the  man  of 
peace,  who  will  never  expose  you  to  the  power  of  your 
enemies.  In  1798  there  were  some  brave  men,  some  val- 
iant men,  to  head  the  people  at  large;  but  there  were 
many  traitors,  who  left  the  people  in  the  power  of  their 
enemies.  The  Curragh  of  Kildare  afforded  an  instance  of 
the  fate  which  Irishmen  were  to  expect,  who  confided  in 
their  Saxon  enemies.  Oh,  it  was  an  ill-organized,  a  pre- 
mature, a  foolish,  and  an  absurd  insurrection;  but  you 
have  a  leader  now  who  never  will  allow  you  to  commit 
any  act  so  foolish  or  so  destructive.  How  delighted  do 
I  feel  with  the  thorough  conviction  which  has  come  over 
the  minds  of  the  people,  that  they  could  not  gratify  your 
enemies  more  than  by  committing  a  crime.    No;  our  an- 


IRELAND  WORTH  DYING  FOR 


25 


cestors  suffered  for  confiding  in  the  English,  but  we  never 
will  confide  in  them.  They  suffered  for  being  divided 
among  themselves.  There  is  no  division  among  us.  They 
suffered  for  their  own  dissensions — for  not  standing  man 
to  man  by  each  other's  side.  We  shall  stand  peaceably 
side  by  side  in  the  face  of  every  enemy.  Oh,  how  de- 
lighted was  I  in  the  scenes  which  I  witnessed  as  I  came 
along  here  to-day!  How  my  heart  throbbed,  how  my 
spirit  was  elevated,  how  my  bosom  swelled  with  delight 
at  the  multitude  which  I  beheld,  and  which  I  shall  be- 
hold, of  the  stalwart  and  strong  men  of  Kildare!  I  was 
delighted  at  the  activity  and  force  that  I  saw  around  me, 
and  my  old  heart  grew  warm  again  in  admiring  the  beauty 
of  the  dark-eyed  maids  and  matrons  of  Kildare.  Oh,  there 
is  a  starlight  sparkling  from  the  eye  of  a  Kildare  beauty, 
that  is  scarcely  equalled,  and  could  not  be  excelled,  all 
over  the  world.  And  remember  that  you  are  the  sons, 
the  fathers,  the  brothers,  and  the  husbands  of  such  women, 
and  a  traitor  or  a  coward  could  never  be  connected  with 
any  of  them.  Yes,  I  am  in  a  county,  remarkable  in  the 
history  of  Ireland  for  its  bravery  and  its  misfortune,  for 
its  credulity  in  the  faith  of  others,  for  its  people  judged 
of  the  Saxon  by  the  honesty  and  honor  of  their  own  na- 
tures. I  am  in  a  county  celebrated  for  the  sacredness  of 
its  shrines  and  fanes.  I  am  in  a  county  where  the  lamp 
of  Kildare's  holy  shrine  burned  with  its  sacred  fire, 
through  ages  of  darkness  and  storm — that  fire  which  for 
six  centuries  burned  before  the  high  altar  without  being 
extinguished,  being  fed  continuously,  without  the  slight- 
est interruption,  and  it  seemed  to  me  to  have  been  not  an 
inapt  representation  of  the  continuous  fidelity  and  relig- 
ious love  of  country  of  the  men  of  Kildare.    Yes,  you 


26 


DANIEL  O'CONNELL 


have  those  high  qualities — religioas  fidelity,  continuous 
love  of  country.  Even  your  enemies  admit  that  the  world 
has  never  produced  any  people  that  exceeded  the  Irish  in 
activity  and  strength.  The  Scottish  philosopher  has  de- 
clared, and  the  French  philosopher  has  confirmed  it,  that 
number  one  in  the  human  race  is,  blessed  be  Heaven,  the 
Irishman.  In  moral  virtue,  in  religion,  in  perseverance, 
and  in  glorious  temperance,  you  excel.  Have  I  any  tee- 
totalers here?  Yes,  it  is  teetotalism  that  is  repealing  the 
Union.  I  could  not  afford  to  bring  you  together,  I  would 
not  dare  to  bring  you  together,  but  that  I  had  the  teeto- 
talers for  my  police. 

Yes,  among  the  nations  of  the  earth,  Ireland  stands 
number  one  in  the  physical  strength  of  her  sons  and  in 
the  beauty  and  purity  of  her  daughters.  Ireland,  land  of 
my  forefathers,  how  my  mind  expands,  and  my  spirit  walks 
abroad  in  something  of  majesty,  when  I  contemplate  the 
high  qualities,  inestimable  virtues,  and  true  purity  and 
piety  and  religious  fidelity  of  the  inhabitants  of  your 
green  fields  and  productive  mountains.  Oh,  what  a  scene 
surrounds  us!  It  is  not  only  the  countless  thousands  of 
brave  and  active  and  peaceable  and  religious  men  that  are 
here  assembled,  but  Nature  herself  has  written  her  character 
with  the  finest  beauty  in  the  verdant  plains  that  surround 
us.  Let  any  man  run  round  the  horizon  with  his  eye,  and 
tell  me  if  created  nature  ever  produced  anything  so  green 
and  so  lovely,  so  undulating,  so  teeming  with  production. 
The  richest  harvests  that  any  land  can  produce  are  those 
reaped  in  Ireland;  and  then  here  are  the  sweetest  mead- 
ows, the  greenest  fields,  the  loftiest  mountains,  the  purest 
streams,  the  noblest  rivers,  the  most  capacious  harbors — 
and  her  water  power  is  equal  to  turn  the  machinery  of  the 


IRELAND  WORTH  DYING  FOR 


27 


whole  world.  Oh,  my  friends,  it  is  a  couDtry  worth  fight- 
ing for — it  is  a  country  worth  dying  for;  but,  above  all,  it 
is  a  country  worth  being  tranquil,  determined,  submissive, 
and  docile  for;  disciplined  as  you  are  in  obedience  to  those 
who  are  breaking  the  way,  and  trampling  down  the  barriers 
between  you  and  your  constitutional  liberty,  I  will  see  every 
man  of  you  having  a  vote,  and  every  man  protected  by  the 
ballot  from  the  agent  or  landlord,  I  will  see  labor  pro- 
tected, and  every  title  to  possession  recognized,  when  you 
are  industrious  and  honest.  I  will  see  prosperity  again 
throughout  your  land — the  busy  hum  of  the  shuttle  and 
the  tinkling  of  the  smithy  shall  be  heard  again.  We 
shall  see  the  nailer  employed  even  until  the  middle  of 
the  night,  and  the  carpenter  covering  himself  with  his 
chips.  I  will  see  prosperity  in  all  its  gradations  spread- 
ing through  a  happy,  contented,  religious  land.  I  will 
hear  the  hymn  of  a  happy  people  go  forth  at  sunrise  to 
God  in  praise  of  his  mercies — and  I  will  see  the  evening 
sun  set  down  among  the  uplifted  hands  of  a  religious  and 
free  population.  Every  blessing  that  man  can  bestow  and 
religion  can  confer  upon  the  faithful  heart  shall  spread 
throughout  the  land.  Stand  by  me — join  with  me — I  will 
say  be  obedient  to  me,  and  Ireland  shall  be  free. 


HEE^RY  CLAY 


ENRY  Clay,  an  eloquent  and  distinguished  American  statesman,  was  born 
in  Hanover  County,  near  Richmond,  Va.,  April  12,  1777,  and  died  at 
Washington,  D.  C,  June  29,  1852.  His  father  was  a  Baptist  minister  who 
died  when  young  Clay  was  but  five  years  old.  His  mother  marrying  again 
and  removing  to  Kentucky,  the  future  statesman  was  put  to  hard  shifts  to  make  his 
way  in  life,  but  was  aided  by  friends  in  the  study  of  law,  and  in  1797  was  admitted 
to  the  Bar  and  practiced  at  Lexington,  Ky.  Here,  having  taken  interest  in  the 
affairs  of  the  State,  lately  separated  from  Virginia,  and  a  prominent  part  in  the 
discussions  over  its  Constitution,  he  became,  in  1803,  a  member  of  the  legislature. 
In  1806,  he  was  sent  to  the  United  States  Senate,  to  fill  a  temporary  vacancy,  and 
in  the  following  year  was  elected  speaker  of  the  Kentucky  legislature.  Two  years 
later,  he  appeared  again  in  the  United  States  Senate,  and  in  1811  became  a  repre- 
sentative of  his  State  in  Congress,  where  his  ability  and  popularity  gained  him  the 
speakership.  Repudiating  the  British  right  of  search,  he  urged  on  the  war  with 
England  of  1812-14,  and  the  occupation  of  Canada  by  American  troops,  affirming 
that  "an  honorable  peace  is  obtainable  only  by  an  eflScient  war,"  At  its  close,  he 
was  one  of  the  negotiators  of  peace  at  Ghent,  and  as  commissioner  signed  the  treaty. 
On  his  return,  he  advocated  a  heavy  protective  tariff  in  the  interest  of  home  indus- 
tries, and  pled  for  a  compromise  with  slavery,  when  that  question  came  up  on  the 
admission  of  Missouri  as  a  slave  State  into  the  Union,  in  1821,  In  1824,  he  was 
a  candidate  for  the  Presidency,  but  gave  his  support  to  the  successful  candidature 
of  John  Quincy  Adams,  in  whose  administration  he  accepted  the  office  of  Secretary  of 
State,  In  1832,  and  again  in  1844,  he  was  unsuccessful  in  seeking  the  office  of  President, 
and  for  some  years  retired  from  public  life.  Re-appearing  in  the  Senate,  where  he 
wielded  a  potent  influence  and  was  eloquent  and  skillful  in  matters  of  legislation, 
he  took  a  leading  part  in  effecting  what  is  known  as  the  Slavery  Compromise  of 
1850,  In  the  following  year  he  was  prostrated  by  disease,  and  died  at  the  capital, 
aged  seventy-four. 

DICTATORS  IN  AMERICAN  POLITICS 

DENOUNCING  ANDREW  JACKSON.  DELIVERED  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 
SENATE.  ON  THE  POINDEXTER  RESOLUTION.  APRIL  30,  1834 

NEVER,  Mr.  President,  have  I  known  or  read  of  an 
administration  which  expires  with  so  much  agony, 
and  so  little  composure  and  resignation,  as  that 
which  now  unfortunately  has  the  control  of  public  affairs 

in  this  country.    It  exhibits  a  state  of  mind,  feverish,  fret- 
(28) 


DICTATORS  IN  AMEiilCAN  POLITICS 


29 


ful,  and  fidgety,  bounding  recklessly  from  one  desperate 
expedient  to  another,  without  any  sober  or  settled  purpose. 
Ever  since  the  dog  days  of  last  summer,  it  has  been  making 
a  succession  of  the  most  extravagant  plunges,  of  which  the 
extraordinary  Cabinet  paper,  a  sort  of  appeal  from  a  dissent- 
ing Cabinet  to  the  people,  was  the  first;  and  the  protest,  a 
direct  appeal  from  the  Senate  to  the  people,  is  the  last  and 
the  worst. 

A  new  philosophy  has  sprung  up  within  a  few  years 
past,  called  Phrenology.  There  is,  I  believe,  something  in 
it,  but  not  quite  as  much  as  its  ardent  followers  proclaim. 
According  to  its  doctrines,  the  leading  passion,  propensity, 
and  characteristics  of  every  man  are  developed  in  his  physi- 
cal conformation,  chiefly  in  the  structure  of  his  head.  Gall 
and  Spurzheim,  its  founders,  or  most  eminent  propagators, 
being  dead,  I  regret  that  neither  of  them  can  examine  the 
head  of  our  illustrious  Chief  Magistrate.  But  if  it  could  be 
surveyed  by  Dr.  Caldwell,  of  Transylvania  University,  I 
am  persuaded  that  he  would  find  the  organ  of  destructive- 
ness  prominently  developed.  Except  an  enormous  fabric 
of  executive  power  for  himself,  the  President  has  built  up 
nothing,  constructed  nothing,  and  will  leave  no  enduring 
monument  of  his  administration.  He  goes  for  destruction, 
universal  destruction ;  and  it  seems  to  be  his  greatest  ambi- 
tion to  efface  and  obliterate  every  trace  of  the  wisdom  of 
his  predecessors.  He  has  displayed  this  remarkable  trait 
throughout  his  whole  life,  whether  in  private  walks  or  in 
the  public  service.  He  signally  and  gloriously  exhibited 
that  peculiar  organ  when  contending  against  the  enemies 
of  his  country,  in  the  battle  of  'New  Orleans.  For  that 
brilliant  exploit,  no  one  has  ever  been  more  ready  than 
myself  to  award  him  all  due  honor.    At  the  head  of  our 


30 


HENRY  CLAY 


armies  was  his  appropriate  position,  and  most  unfortunate 
for  his  fame  was  the  day  when  he  entered  on  the  career  of 
administration  as  the  chief  executive  officer.  He  lives  by 
excitement,  perpetual,  agitating  excitement,  and  would  die 
in  a  state  of  perfect  repose  and  tranquillity.  He  has  never 
been  without  some  subject  of  attack,  either  in  individuals, 
or  in  masses,  or  in  institutions.  I,  myself,  have  been  one 
of  his  favorites,  and  I  do  not  know  but  that  I  have  re- 
cently recommended  myself  to  his  special  regard.  During 
his  administration  this  has  been  his  constant  course.  The 
Indians  and  Indian  policy,  internal  improvements,  the 
colonial  trade,  the  Supreme  Court,  Congress,  the  bank,  have 
successively  experienced  the  attacks  of  his  haughty  and  im- 
perious spirit.  And  if  he  tramples  the  bank  in  the  dust, 
my  word  for  it,  we  shall  see  him  quickly  in  chase  of  some 
new  subject  of  his  vengeance.  This  is  the  genuine  spirit  of 
conquerors  and  of  conquest.  It  is  said  by  the  biographer 
of  Alexander  the  Grreat,  that,  after  he  had  completed  his 
Asiatic  conquests,  he  seemed  to  sigh  because  there  were  no 
more  worlds  for  him  to  subdue;  and,  finding  himself  with- 
out further  employment  for  his  valor  or  his  arms,  he  turned 
within  himself  to  search  the  means  to  gratify  his  insatiable 
thirst  of  glory.  What  sort  of  conquest  he  achieved  of  him- 
self, the  same  biographer  tragically  records. 

Already  has  the  President  singled  out  and  designated,  in 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  the  new  object  of  his  hostile 
pursuit;  and  the  protest,  which  I  am  now  to  consider,  is  his 
declaration  of  war.  What  has  provoked  it?  The  Senate,  a 
component  part  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  at  its 
last  adjournment  left  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States  in 
the  safe  custody  of  the  persons  and  places  assigned  by  law 
to  keep  it.    Upon  reassembling,  it  found  the  treasure  re- 


DICTATORS  IN  AMERICAN  POLITICS 


31 


moved;  some  of  its  guardians  displaced;  all,  remaining, 
brought  under  the  immediate  control  of  the  President's 
sole  will;  and  the  President  having  free  and  unobstructed 
access  to  the  public  money.  The  Senate  believes  that  the 
purse  of  the  nation  is,  by  the  Constitution  and  laws,  in- 
trusted to  the  exclusive  legislative  care  of  Congress.  It 
has  dared  to  avow  and  express  this  opinion,  in  a  resolu- 
tion adopted  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  March  last.  That 
resolution  was  preceded  by  a  debate  of  three  months'  du- 
ration, in  the  progress  of  which  the  able  and  zealous  sup- 
porters of  the  Executive  in  the  Senate  were  attentively 
heard.  Every  argument  which  their  ample  resources,  or 
those  of  the  members  of  the  Executive,  could  supply  was 
listened  to  with  respect,  and  duly  weighed.  After  full 
deliberation,  the  Senate  expressed  its  conviction  that  the 
Executive  had  violated  the  Constitution  and  laws.  It  cau- 
tiously refrained  in  the  resolution  from  all  examination  into 
the  motives  or  intention  of  the  Executive;  it  ascribed  no 
bad  ones  to  him ;  it  restricted  itself  to  a  simple  declaration 
of  its  solemn  belief  that  the  Constitution  and  laws  had  been 
violated.  This  is  the  extent  of  the  offence  of  the  Senate. 
This  is  what  it  has  done  to  excite  the  Executive  indignation 
and  to  bring  upon  it  the  infliction  of  a  denunciatory  protest. 

The  President  comes  down  upon  the  Senate  and  demands 
that  it  record  upon  its  journal  this  protest.  He  recommends 
no  measure — no  legislation  whatever.  He  proposes  no  ex- 
ecutive proceeding  on  the  part  of  the  Senate.  He  requests 
the  recording  of  his  protest,  and  he  requests  nothing  more 
nor  less.  The  Senate  has  abstained  from  putting  on  its 
own  record  any  vindication  of  the  resolution  of  which  the 
President  complains.  It  has  not  asked  of  him  to  place  it, 
where  he  says  he  has  put  his  protest,  in  the  archives  of  the 


32 


HENRY  CLAY 


Executive.  He  desires,  therefore,  to  be  done  for  him,  on 
the  journal  of  the  Senate,  what  has  not  been  done  for  it- 
self. The  Senate  keeps  no  recording  office  for  protests, 
deeds,  wills,  or  other  instruments.  The  Constitution  en- 
joins that  "each  House  shall  keep  a  journal  of  its  proceed- 
ings." In  conformity  with  this  requirement,  the  Senate 
does  keep  a  journal  of  its  proceedings— not  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  Executive,  or  any  other  department  of  the  gov- 
ernment, except  so  far  as  they  relate  directly  to  the  busi- 
ness of  the  Senate.  The  President  sometimes  professes  to 
favor  a  strict  construction  of  the  Constitution,  at  least  in 
regard  to  the  powers  of  all  the  departments  of  the  govern- 
^ment  other  than  that  of  which  he  is  the  chief.  As  to  that, 
he  is  the  greatest  latitudinarian  that  has  ever  filled  the  office 
of  President.  Upon  any  fair  construction  of  the  Constitu- 
tion, how  can  the  Senate  be  called  upon  to  record  upon  its 
journal  any  proceedings  but  its  own?  It  is  true  that  the 
ordinary  messages  of  the  President  are  usually  inserted  at 
large  in  the  journal.  Strictly  speaking,  it  perhaps  ought 
never  to  have  been  done;  but  they  have  been  heretofore 
registered,  because  they  relate  to  the  general  business  of  the 
Senate,  either  in  its  legislative  or  executive  character,  and 
have  been  the  basis  of  subsequent  proceedings.  The  protest 
stands  upon  totally  distinct  ground. 

The  President  professes  to  consider  himself  as  charged 
by  the  resolution  with  "the  high  crime  of  violating  the 
laws  and  Constitution  of  my  country."  He  declares  that 
**one  of  the  most  important  branches  of  the  government,  in 
its  official  capacity,  in  a  public  manner,  and  by  its  recorded 
sentence,  but  without  precedent,  competent  authority,  or 
just  cause,  declares  him  guilty  of  a  breach  of  the  laws  and 
Constitution."    The  protest  further  alleges  that  such  an  act 


DICTATORS  IN   AMERICAN  POLITICS 


33 


as  the  Constitution  describes  "constitutes  a  high  crime — one 
of  the  highest,  indeed,  which  the  President  can  commit — a 
crime  which  justly  exposes  him  to  an  impeachment  by  the 
House  of  Representatives;  and,  upon  due  conviction,  to  re- 
moval from  office,  and  to  the  complete  and  immutable  dis- 
franchisement prescribed  by  the  Constitution."  it  also  as- 
serts: "The  resolution,  then,  was  an  impeachment  of  the 
President,  and  in  its  passage  amounts  to  a  declaration  by  a 
majority  of  the  Senate,  that  he  is  guilty  of  an  impeachable 
offence."  The  President  is  also  of  opinion  that  to  say  that 
the  resolution  does  not  expressly  allege  that  the  assumption 
of  power  and  authority  which  it  condemns  was  intentional 
and  corrupt,  is  no  answer  to  the  preceding  view  of  its  char- 
acter and  effect.  "The  act  thus  condemned  necessarily  im- 
plies volition  and  design  in  the  individual  to  whom  it  is 
imputed;  and,  being  unlawful  in  its  character,  the  legal  con- 
clusion is,  that  it  was  prompted  by  improper  motives  and 
committed  with  an  unlawful  intent."  .  .  .  "The  President 
of  the  United  States,  therefore,  has  been,  by  a  majority  of 
his  constitutional  triers,  accused  and  found  guilty  of  an 
impeachable  offence." 

Such  are  the  deliberate  views,  entertained  by  the  Presi- 
dent, of  the  implications,  effects,  and  consequences  of  the 
resolution.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  they  are 
totally  different  from  any  which  were  entertained  by  the 
Senate,  or  by  the  mover  of  the  resolution.  The  Senate 
carefully  abstained  from  looking  into  the  quo  animoj  from 
all  examination  into  the  motives  or  intention  with  which 
the  violation  of  the  Constitution  and  laws  was  made.  No 
one  knows  those  motives  and  intentions  better  than  tha 
President  himself.  If  he  chooses  to  supply  the  omission 
of  the  resolution,  if  he  thinks  proper  to  pronounce  bis  own 

Vol.  5—3 


84 


HENRY  CLAY 


self-condemnation,  his  guilt  does  not  flow  from  what  the 
Senate  has  done,  but  from  his  own  avowal.  Having  cau- 
tiously avoided  passing  upon  his  guilt  by  prejudgment,  bo 
neither  ought  his  acquittal  to  be  pronounced  by  antici- 
pation. 

But,  I  would  ask,  in  what  tone,  temper,  and  spirit  does 
the  President  come  to  the  Senate  ?  As  a  great  State  culprit 
who  has  been  arraigned  at  the  bar  of  justice,  or  sentenced 
as  guilty?  Does  he  manifest  any  of  those  compunctious 
visitings  of  conscience  which  a  guilty  violator  of  the  Consti- 
tution and  laws  of  the  land  ought  to  feel  ?  Does  he  address 
himself  to  a  high  court  with  the  respect,  to  say  nothing  of 
humility,  which  a  person  accused  or  convicted  would  natu- 
rally feel  ?  No,  no.  He  comes  as  if  the  Senate  were  guilty, 
as  if  he  were  in  the  judgment-seat,  and  the  Senate  stood 
accused  before  him.  He  arraigns  the  Senate;  puts  it  upon 
trial;  condemns  it;  he  comes  as  if  he  felt  himself  elevated 
far  above  the  Senate,  and  beyond  all  reach  of  the  law,  sur- 
rounded by  unapproachable  impunity.  He  who  professes 
to  be  an  innocent  and  injured  man  gravely  accuses  the 
Senate,  and  modestly  asks  it  to  put  upon  its  own  record  his 
sentence  of  condemnation !  When  before  did  the  arraigned 
or  convicted  party  demand  of  the  court  which  was  to  try, 
or  had  condemned  him,  to  enter  upon  their  records  a  severe 
denunciation  of  their  own  conduct?  The  President  presents 
himself  before  the  Senate,  not  in  the  garb  of  suffering  inno- 
cence, but  in  imperial  and  royal  costume — as  a  dictator,  to 
rebuke  a  refractory  Senate;  to  command  it  to  record  his 
solemn  protest;  to  chastise  it  for  disobedience. 

**The  hearts  of  princes  kiss  obedience, 
So  much  they  love  it ;  but  to  stubborn  spirits 
They  swell,  and  grow  as  terrible  as  storms." 


DICTATORS  IN   AMBRICAN  POLITICS 


35 


We  shall  better  comprehend  the  nature  of  the  request 
which  the  President  has  made  of  the  Senate,  by  referring 
to  his  own  opinions  expressed  in  the  protest.  He  says  that 
the  resolution  is  a  recorded  sentence,  "but  without  prece- 
dent, just  cause,  or  competent  authority."  He  "is  perfectly 
convinced  that  the  discussion  and  passage  of  the  above- 
mentioned  resolutions  were  not  only  unauthorized  by  the 
Constitution,  but  in  many  respects  repugnant  to  its  provi- 
sions, and  subversive  of  the  rights  secured  by  it  to  other 
co-ordinate  departments."  We  had  no  right,  it  seems,  then, 
even  to  discuss,  much  less  express  any  opinion  on,  the 
President's  proceedings  encroaching  upon  our  constitutional 
powers.  And  what  right  had  the  President  to  look  at  all 
into  our  discussions?  What  becomes  of  the  constitutional 
provision  which,  speaking  of  Congress,  declares,  "for  any 
speech  or  debate  in  either  House,  they  shall  not  be  ques- 
tioned in  any  other  place"? 

The  President  thinks  "the  resolution  of  the  Senate  is 
wholly  unauthorized  by  the  Constitution,  and  in  derogation 
of  its  entire  spirit."  He  proclaims  that  the  passage,  record- 
ing, and  promulgation  of  the  resolution  affixes  guilt  and 
disgrace  to  the  President,  "in  a  manner  unauthorized  by 
the  Constitution."  But,  says  the  President,  if  the  Senate 
had  just  cause  to  entertain  the  belief  that  the  House  of 
Eepresentatives  would  not  impeach  him,  that  cannot  justify 
"the  assumption  by  the  Senate  of  powers  not  conferred  by 
the  Constitution."  The  protest  continues:  "It  is  only 
necessary  to  look  at  the  condition  in  which  the  Senate  and 
the  President  have  been  placed  by  this  proceeding,  to  per- 
ceive its  utter  incompatibility  with  the  provisions  and  the 
spirit  of  the  Constitution,  and  with  the  plainest  dictates  of 
humanity  and  justice."    A  majority  of  the  Senate  assume 


36 


HENRY  CLAY 


the  function  which  belongs  to  the  House  of  Representatives, 
and  "convert  themselves  into  accusers,  witnesses,  counsel, 
and  judges,  and  prejudge  the  whole  case."  If  the  House 
of  Representatives  shall  consider  that  there  is  no  cause  of 
impeachment,  and  prefer  none,  "then  will  the  violation  of 
privilege  as  it  respects  that  House,  of  justice  as  it  regards 
the  President,  and  of  the  Constitution  as  it  relates  to  both, 
be  more  conspicuous  and  impressive."  The  Senate  is 
charged  with  the  "unconstitutional  power  of  arraigning 
and  censuring  the  official  conduct  of  the  Executive."  The 
people,  says  the  protest,  will  be  compelled  to  adopt  the  con- 
clusion, "either  that  the  Chief  Magistrate  was  unworthy 
of  their  respect,  or  that  the  Senate  was  chargeable  with 
calumny  and  injustice."  There  can  be  no  doubt  which 
branch  of  this  alternative  was  intended  to  be  applied.  The 
President  throughout  the  protest  labors  to  prove  himself 
worthy  of  all  respect  from  the  people.  Finally,  the  Presi- 
dent says:  "It  is  due  to  the  high  trust  with  which  I  have 
been  charged,  to  those  who  may  be  called  to  succeed  me  in 
it,  to  the  representatives  of  the  people  whose  constitutional 
prerogative  has  been  unlawfully  assumed,  to  the  people  and 
to  the  States,  and  to  the  Constitution  they  have  established, 
that  I  should  not  permit  its  provisions  to  be  broken  down 
by  such  an  attack  on  the  Executive  department,  without  at 
least  some  effort  *to  preserve,  protect,  and  defend  them.'  " 
These  are  the  opinions  which  the  President  expresses 
in  the  protest,  of  the  conduct  of  the  Senate.  In  every  form, 
and  every  variety  of  expression,  he  accuses  it  of  violating 
the  express  language  and  spirit  of  the  Constitution;  of  en- 
croaching not  only  on  his  prerogatives,  but  those  of  the 
House  of  Representatives ;  of  forgetting  the  sacred  character 
d,m\  impartiality  wbipb  l?elong  to  th^  highest  court  of  justice 


DICTATORS  IN   AMERICAN  POLITICS 


37 


in  the  Union;  of  injustice,  of  inhumanity,  and  of  calumny. 
And  we  are  politely  requested  to  spread  upon  our  own 
journal  these  opinions  entertained  of  us  by  the  President, 
that  they  may  be  perpetually  preserved  and  handed  down 
to  posterity!  The  President  respectfully  requests  it!  He 
might  as  well  have  come  to  us  and  respectfully  requested 
us  to  allow  him  to  pull  our  noses,  or  kick  us,  or  receive  his 
stripes  upon  our  backs.  The  degradation  would  not  have 
been  much  more  humiliating. 

The  President  tells  us,  in  the  same  protest,  that  any 
breach  or  violation  of  the  Constitution  and  laws  draws 
after  it,  and  necessarily  implies,  volition  and  design,  and 
that  the  legal  conclusion  is  that  it  was  prompted  by  im- 
proper motives  and  committed  with  an  unlawful  intent. 
He  pronounces,  therefore,  that  the  Senate,  in  the  violations 
of  the  Constitution  which  he  deliberately  imputes  to  it,  is 
guilty;  that  volition  and  design,  on  the  part  of  the  Senate, 
are  necessarily  implied;  and  that  the  legal  conclusion  is  that 
the  Senate  was  prompted  by  improper  motives,  and  com- 
mitted the  violation  with  an  unlawful  intent.  And  he  most 
respectfully  and  kindly  solicits  the  Senate  to  overleap  the 
restraint  of  the  Constitution,  which  limits  its  journal  to 
the  record  of  its  own  proceedings,  and  place  alongside  of 
them  his  sentence  of  condemnation  of  the  Senate. 

That  the  President  did  not  intend  to  make  the  journal 
of  the  Senate  a  medium  of  conveying  his  sentiments  to  the 
people  is  manifest.  He  knows  perfectly  well  how  to  address 
to  them  his  appeals.  And  the  remarkable  fact  is  estab- 
lished, by  his  private  secretary,  that,  simultaneously  with 
the  transmission  to  the  Senate  of  his  protest,  a  duplicate 
was  transmitted  to  the  "Grlobe,"  his  official  paper,  for  pub- 
lication; and  it  was  forthwith  published  accordingly.  For 


38 


HENRY  CLAY 


what  purpose,  then,  was  it  sent  here?  It  is  painful  to  avow 
the  belief,  but  one  is  compelled  to  think  it  was  only  sent  iu 
a  spirit  of  insult  and  defiance. 

The  President  is  not  content  with  vindicating  his  own 
rights.  He  steps  forward  to  maintain  the  privileges  of  the 
House  of  Eepresentatives  also.  Why?  Was  it  to  make 
the  House  his  ally,  and  to  excite  its  indignation  against  the 
offending  Senate?  Is  not  the  House  perfectly  competent  to 
sustain  its  own  privileges  against  every  assault?  I  should 
like  to  see,  sir,  a  resolution  introduced  into  the  House, 
alleging  a  breach  of  its  privileges  by  a  resolution  of  the 
Senate,  which  was  intended  to  maintain  unviolated  the  con- 
stitutional rights  of  both  Houses  in  regard  to  the  public 
purse,  and  to  be  present  at  its  discussion. 

The  President  exhibits  great  irritation  and  impatience 
at  the  presumptuousness  of  a  resolution,  which,  without  the 
imputation  of  any  bad  intention  or  design,  ventures  to 
allege  that  he  has  violated  the  Constitution  and  laws.  His 
constitutional  and  official  infallibility  must  not  be  ques- 
tioned. To  controvert  it  is  an  act  of  injustice,  inhumanity, 
and  calumny.  He  is  treated  as  a  criminal,  and,  without 
summons,  he  is  prejudged,  condemned,  and  sentenced.  Is 
the  President  scrupulously  careful  of  the  memory  of  the 
dead,  or  the  feelings  of  the  living,  in  respect  to  violations 
of  the  Constitution?  If  a  violation  by  him  implies  criminal 
guilt,  a  violation  by  them  cannot  be  innocent  and  guiltless. 
And  how  has  the  President  treated  the  memory  of  the  im- 
mortal Father  of  his  Country?  that  great  man,  who,  for 
purity  of  purpose  and  character,  wisdom  and  moderation, 
unsullied  virtue  and  unsurpassed  patriotism,  is  without 
competition  in  past  history  or  among  living  men,  and 
whose  equal  we  scarcely  dare  hope  will  ever  be  again  pre- 


DICTATORS   IN   AMERICAN  POLITICS 


89 


sented  as  a  blessing  to  man^cind.  How  has  he  been  treated 
by  the  President  ?  Has  he  not  again  and  again  pronounced 
that,  by  approving  the  bill  chartering  the  first  Bank  of  the 
United  States,  Washington  violated  the  Constitution  of  his 
country?  That  violation,  according  to  the  President,  in- 
cluded volition  and  design,  was  prompted  by  improper 
motives,  and  was  committed  with  an  unlawful  intent.  It 
was  the  more  inexcusable  in  Washington,  because  he  as- 
sisted and  presided  in  the  convention  which  formed  the 
Constitution.  If  it  be  unjust  to  arraign,  try  unheard,  and 
condemn  as  guilty,  a  living  man  filling  an  exalted  office, 
with  all  the  splendor,  power,  and  influence  which  that  office 
possesses,  how  much  more  cruel  is  it  to  disturb  the  sacred 
and  venerated  ashes  of  the  illustrious  dead,  who  can  raise 
no  voice  and  make  no  protests  against  the  imputation  of 
high  crime! 

What  has  been  the  treatment  of  the  President  toward 
that  other  illustrious  man,  yet  spared  to  us,  but  who  is 
lingering  upon  the  very  verge  of  eternity?  Has  he  ab- 
stained from  charging  the  Father  of  the  Constitution  with 
criminal  intent  in  violating  the  Constitution  ?  Mr.  Madison, 
like  Washington,  assisted  in  the  formation  of  the  Constitu- 
tion; was  one  of  its  ablest  expounders  and  advocates;  and 
was  opposed,  on  constitutional  ground,  to  the  first  Bank  of 
the  United  States.  But,  yielding  to  the  force  of  circum- 
stances, and  especially  to  the  great  principle,  that  the  peace 
and  stability  of  human  society  require  that  a  controverted 
question,  which  has  been  finally  settled  by  all  the  depart- 
ments of  government  by  long  acquiescence,  and  by  the 
people  themselves,  should  not  be  open  to  perpetual  dispute 
and  disturbance,  he  approved  the  bill  chartering  the  present 
Bank  of  the  United  States.    Even  the  name  of  James 


40 


HENKY  CLAY 


Madi?on,  which,  is  but  another  for  purity,  patriotism,  pro- 
found learning,  and  enlightened  experience,  cannot  escape 
the  imputations  of  his  present  successor. 

And,  lastly,  how  often  has  he  charged  Congress  itself 
with  open  violations  of  the  Constitution?  Times  almost 
without  number.  During  the  present  session  he  has  sent 
in  a  message,  in  regard  to  the  land  bill,  in  which  he  has 
charged  it  with  an  undisguised  violation^  A  violation  so 
palpable,  that  it  is  not  even  disguised,  and  must,  therefore, 
necessarily  imply  a  criminal  intent.  Sir,  the  advisers  of  the 
President,  whoever  they  are,  deceive  him  and  themselves. 
They  have  vainly  supposed  that,  by  an  appeal  to  the  peo- 
ple, and  an  exhibition  of  the  wounds  of  the  President,  they 
could  enlist  the  sympathies  and  the  commiseration  of  the 
people — that  the  name  of  Andrew  Jackson  would  bear 
down  the  Senate  and  all  opposition.  They  have  yet  to 
learn,  what  they  will  soon  learn,  that  even  a  good  and  re- 
sponsible name  may  be  used  so  frequently,  as  an  indorser, 
that  its  credit  and  the  public  confidence  in  its  solidity  have 
been  seriously  impaired.  They  mistake  the  intelligence  of 
the  people,  who  are  not  prepared  to  see  and  sanction  the 
President  putting  forth  indiscriminate  charges  of  a  violation 
of  the  Constitution  against  whomsoever  he  pleases,  and  ex- 
hibiting unmeasured  rage  and  indignation  when  his  own 
infallibility  is  dared  to  be  questioned. 


ON  THE  SEMINOLE  WAR 


41 


ON  THE  SEMINOLE  WAR 

HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  JANUARY  19, 1819 

IF  MY  recollection  does  not  deceive  me,  Bonaparte  had 
passed  the  Rhine  and  the  Alps,  had  conquered  Italy, 
the  Netherlands,  Holland,  Hanover,  Lubec,  and  Ham- 
burg, and  extended  his  empire  as  far  as  Altona,  on  the  side 
of  Denmark.  A  few  days'  march  would  have  carried  him 
through  Holstein,  over  the  two  Belts,  through  Funen,  and 
into  the  island  of  Zealand.  What,  then,  was  the  conduct 
of  England?  It  was  my  lot  to  fall  into  conversation  with 
an  intelligent  Englishman  on  this  subject.  *'We  knew  (said 
he)  that  we  were  fighting  for  our  existence.  It  was  abso- 
lutely necessary  that  we  should  preserve  the  command  of 
the  seas.  If  the  fleet  of  Denmark  fell  into  the  enemy's 
hands,  combined  with  his  other  fleets,  that  command  might 
be  rendered  doubtful.  Denmark  had  only  a  nominal  inde- 
pendence. She  was,  in  truth,  subject  to  his  sway.  We 
said  to  her,  Give  us  your  fleet;  it  will  otherwise  be  taken 
possession  of  by  your  secret  and  our  open  enemy.  We  will 
preserve  it  and  restore  it  to  you  whenever  the  danger  shall 
be  over.  Denmark  refused.  Copenhagen  was  bombarded, 
and  gallantly  defended,  but  the  fleet  was  seized."  Every- 
where the  conduct  of  England  was  censured;  and  the  name 
even  of  the  negotiator  who  was  employed  by  her,  who 
was  subsequently  the  minister  near  this  government,  was 
scarcely  ever  pronounced  here  without  coupling  with  it  an 
epithet  indicating  his  participation  in  the  disgraceful  trans- 
action.   And  yet  we  are  going  to  sanction  acts  of  violence, 


42 


HENRY  CLAY 


committed  by  ourselves,  which  but  too  much  resemble  it  I 
What  an  important  diEerence,  too,  between  the  relative 
condition  of  England  and  of  this  country!  She,  perhaps, 
was  struggling  for  her  existence.  She  was  combating, 
single-handed,  the  most  enormous  military  power  that  the 
world  has  ever  known.  With  whom  were  we  contending? 
With  a  few  half-starved,  half-clothed,  wretched  Indians 
and  fugitive  slaves.  And  while  carrying  on  this  inglorious 
war,  inglorious  as  regards  the  laurels  or  renown  won  in  it, 
we  violate  neutral  rights,  which  the  government  had  sol- 
emnly pledged  itself  to  respect,  upon  the  principle  of  con- 
venience, or  upon  the  light  presumption  that,  by  possibility, 
a  post  might  be  taken  by  this  miserable  combination  of 
Indians  and  slaves.  .  .  . 

I  will  not  trespass  much  longer  upon  the  time  of  the 
committee;  but  I  trust  I  shall  be  indulged  with  some  few 
reflections  upon  the  danger  of  permitting  the  conduct  on 
which  it  has  been  my  painful  duty  to  animadvert,  to  pass 
without  the  solemn  expression  of  the  disapprobation  of  this 
House.  Eecall  to  your  recollection  the  free  nations  which 
have  gone  before  us.    Where  are  they  now  ? 

**Gone  glimmering  through  the  dream  of  things  that  were, 
A  schoolboy's  tale,  the  wonder  of  an  hour." 

And  how  have  they  lost  their  liberties?  If  we  could 
transport  ourselves  back  to  the  ages  when  Greece  and  Rome 
flourished  in  their  greatest  prosperity,  and,  mingling  in  the 
throng,  should  ask  a  Grrecian  if  he  did  not  fear  that  some 
daring  military  chieftain,  covered  with  glory,  some  Philip 
or  Alexander,  would  one  day  overthrow  the  liberties  of  his 
country,  the  confident  and  indignant  Grecian  would  ex- 
claim, No!  no!  we  have  nothing  to  fear  from  our  heroes; 


ON  THE  SEMINOLE  WAR 


43 


our  liberties  will  be  eternal.  If  a  Koman  citizen  had  been 
asked  if  lie  did  not  fear  that  the  conqueror  of  Gaul  might 
establish  a  throne  upon  the  ruins  of  public  liberty,  he  would 
have  instantly  repelled  the  unjust  insinuation.  Yet  Greece 
fell;  Caesar  passed  the  Kubicon,  and  the  patriotic  arm  even 
of  Brutus  could  not  preserve  the  liberties  of  his  devoted 
country!  The  celebrated  Madame  de  Stael,  in  her  last  and 
perhaps  her  best  work,  has  said,  that  in  the  very  year,  al- 
most the  very  month,  when  the  president  of  the  Directory 
declared  that  monarchy  would  never  more  show  its  fright- 
ful head  in  France,  Bonaparte,  with  his  grenadiers,  entered 
the  palace  of  St.  Cloud,  and,  dispersing  with  the  bayonet 
the  deputies  of  the  people  deliberating  on  the  affairs  of  the 
State,  laid  the  foundation  of  that  vast  fabric  of  despotism 
which  overshadowed  all  Europe.  I  hope  not  to  be  misun- 
derstood; I  am  far  from  intimating  that  General  Jackson 
cherishes  any  designs  inimical  to  the  liberties  of  the  coun- 
try. I  believe  his  intentions  to  be  pure  and  patriotic.  I 
thank  God  that  he  would  not,  but  I  thank  him  still  more 
that  he  could  not  if  he  would,  overturn  the  liberties  of  the 
Republic.  But  precedents,  if  bad,  are  fraught  with  the  most 
dangerous  consequences.  Man  has  been  described,  by  some 
of  those  who  have  treated  of  his  nature,  as  a  bundle  of  hab- 
its. The  definition  is  much  truer  when  applied  to  govern- 
ments. Precedents  are  their  habits.  There  is  one  important 
difference  between  the  formation  of  habits  by  an  individual 
and  by  governments.  He  contracts  only  after  frequent  repe- 
tition. A  single  instance  fixes  the  habit  and  determines  the 
direction  of  governments.  Against  the  alarming  doctrine 
of  unlimited  discretion  in  our  military  commanders  when 
applied  even  to  prisoners  of  war,  1  must  enter  my  protest. 
It  begins  upon  them;  it  will  end  on  us.    1  hope  our  happy 


44 


HENRY  CLAY 


form  of  government  is  to  be  perpetual.  But,  if  it  is  to  be 
preserved  it  must  be  by  the  practice  of  virtue,  by  justice, 
by  moderation,  by  magnanimity,  by  greatness  of  soul,  by 
keeping  a  watchful  and  steady  eye  on  the  Executive;  and, 
aoove  all,  by  holding  to  a  strict  accountability  the  military 
branch  of  the  public  force. 

We  are  fighting  a  great  moral  battle  for  the  benefit  not 
only  of  our  country,  but  of  all  mankind.  The  eyes  of  the 
whole  world  are  in  fixed  attention  upon  us.  One,  and 
the  larger  portion  of  it,  is  gazing  with  contempt,  with  jeal- 
ousy, and  with  envy ;  the  other  portion,  with  hope,  with  con- 
fidence, and  with  affection.  Everywhere  the  black  cloud  of 
legitimacy  is  suspended  over  the  world,  save  only  one  bright 
spot,  which  breaks  out  from  the  political  hem'isphere  of  the 
West,  to  enlighten  and  animate  and  gladden  the  human 
heart.  Obscure  that  by  the  downfall  of  liberty  here,  and 
all  mankind  are  enshrouded  in  a  pall  of  universal  darkness. 
To  you,  Mr.  Chairman,  belongs  the  high  privilege  of  trans- 
mitting, unimpaired,  to  posterity  the  fair  character  and  lib- 
erty of  our  country.  Do  you  expect  to  execute  this  high 
trust  by  trampling,  or  suffering  to  be  trampled  down,  law, 
justice,  the  Constitution,  and  the  rights  of  the  people?  by 
exhibiting  examples  of  inhumanity  and  cruelty  and  ambi- 
tion? When  the  minions  of  despotism  heard,  in  Europe, 
of  the  seizure  of  Pensacola,  how  did  they  chuckle,  and  chide 
the  admirers  of  our  institutions,  tauntingly  pointing  to  the 
demonstration  of  a  spirit  of  injustice  and  aggrandizement 
made  by  our  country,  in  the  midst  of  an  amicable  negoti- 
ation! Behold,  said  they,  the  conduct  of  those  who  are 
constantly  reproaching  kings'.  You  saw  how  those  admir- 
ers were  astounded  and  hung  their  heads.  You  saw,  too, 
when  that  illustrious  man,  who  presides  over  us,  adopted 


ON  THE   SEMINOLE  WAR 


45 


his  pacific,  moderate,  and  just  course,  how  they  once  more 
lifted  up  their  heads  with  exultation  and  delight  beaming 
in  their  countenances.  And  you  saw  how  those  minions 
themselves  were  finally  compelled  to  unite  in  the  general 
praises  bestowed  upon  our  government.  Beware  how  you 
forfeit  this  exalted  character.  Beware  how  you  give  a  fatal 
sanction,  in  this  infant  period  of  our  Kepublic,  scarcely  yet 
twoscore  years  old,  to  military  insubordination.  Remem- 
ber that  Greece  had  her  Alexander,  Rome  her  Caesar,  Eng- 
land her  Cromwell,  France  her  Bonaparte,  and  that  if  we 
would  escape  the  rock  on  which  they  split  we  must  avoid 
their  errors. 

How  different  has  been  the  treatment  of  General  Jackson 
and  that  modest,  but  heroic  young  man,  a  native  of  one  of 
the  smallest  States  in  the  Union,  who  achieved  for  his  coun- 
try, on  Lake  Erie,  one  of  the  most  glorious  victories  of  the 
late  war.  In  a  moment  of  passion  he  forgot  himself  and 
offered  an  act  of  violence  which  was  repented  of  as  soon 
as  perpetrated.  He  was  tried,  and  suffered  the  judgment 
to  be  pronounced  by  his  peers.  Public  justice  was  thought 
not  even  then  to  be  satisfied.  The  press  and  Congress  took 
up  the  subject.  My  honorable  friend  from  Virginia,  Mr. 
Johnson,  the  faithful  and  consistent  sentinel  of  the  law  and 
of  the  Constitution,  disapproved  in  that  instance,  as  he  does 
in  this,  and  moved  an  inquiry.  The  public  mind  remained- 
agitated  and  unappeased  until  the  recent  atonement,  so  hon- 
orably made  by  the  gallant  commodore.  And  is  there  to  be 
a  distinction  between  the  officers  of  the  two  branches  of  the 
public  service  ?  Are  former  services,  however  eminent,  to 
preclude  even  inquiry  into  recent  misconduct  ?  Is  there  to 
be  no  limit,  no  prudential  bounds  to  the  national  gratitude  ? 
I  am  not,  disposed  to  censure  the  President  for  not  ordering 


46 


HENRY  CLAY 


a  court  of  inquiry,  or  a  general  court-martial.  Perhaps,  im- 
pelled by  a  sense  of  gratitude,  he  determined,  by  anticipa- 
tion, to  extend  to  the  general  that  pardon  which  he  had  the 
undoubted  right  to  grant  after  sentence.  Let  us  not  shrink 
from  our  duty.  Let  us  assert  our  constitutional  powers,  and 
vindicate  the  instrument  from  military  violation. 

I  hope  gentlemen  will  deliberately  survey  the  awful  isth- 
mus on  which  we  stand.  They  may  bear  down  all  opposi- 
tion; they  may  even  vote  the  general  the  public  thanks; 
they  may  carry  him  triumphantly  through  this  House. 
But,  if  they  do,  in  my  humble  judgment,  it  will  be  a  tri- 
umph of  the  principle  of  insubordination,  a  triumph  of  the 
military  over  the  civil  authority,  a  triumph  over  the  powers 
of  this  House,  a  triumph  over  the  Constitution  of  the  land. 
And  I  pray  most  devoutly  to  Heaven  that  it  may  not  prove, 
in  its  ultimate  effects  and  consequences,  a  triumph  over  the 
liberties  of  the  people. 


THE  EMANCIPATION  OF  SOUTH  AMERICA 

HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES.  MARCH  24.  1818 

IEISE  under  feelings  of  deeper  regret  than  I  have  ever 
experienced  on  any  former  occasion,  inspired  princi- 
pally by  the  consideration  that  I  find  myself,  on  the 
proposition  which  I  meant  to  submit,  differing  from  many 
highly  esteemed  friends,  in  and  out  of  this  House,  for  whose 
judgment  I  entertained  the  greatest  respect.  A  knowledge 
of  this  circumstance  has  induced  me  to  pause;  to  subject  my 
own  convictions  to  the  severest  scrutiny,  and  to  revolve  the 
question  over  and  over  again.    But  all  my  reflections  have 


THE    EMANCIPATION    OF    SOUTH   AMERICA  47 

conducted  me  to  the  same  clear  result;  and,  much  as  I  value 
those  friends,  great  as  my  deference  is  for  their  opinions,  I 
cannot  hesitate,  when  reduced  to  the  distressing  alternative 
of  conforming  my  judgment  to  theirs,  or  pursuing  the  delib- 
erate and  mature  dictates  of  my  own  mind.  I  enjoy  some 
consolation  for  the  want  of  their  co-operation,  from  the  per- 
suasion that,  if  I  err  on  this  occasion,  I  err  on  the  side  of 
the  liberty  and  happiness  of  a  large  portion  of  the  human 
family.  Another,  and,  if  possible,  indeed  a  greater  source 
of  the  regret  to  which  I  refer  is  the  utter  incompetency 
which  1  unfeignedly  feel  to  do  anything  like  adequate  jus- 
tice to  the  great  cause  of  American  independence  and  free- 
dom, whose  interests  I  wish  to  promote  by  my  humble  exer- 
tions in  this  instance.  Exhausted  and  worn  down  as  I  am, 
by  the  fatigue,  confinement,  and  incessant  application  inci- 
dent to  the  arduous  duties  of  the  honorable  station  1  hold, 
during  a  four  months'  session,  I  shall  need  all  that  kind 
indulgence  which  has  been  so  often  extended  to  me  by  the 
House. 

I  beg,  in  the  first  place,  to  correct  misconceptions,  if  any 
exist,  in  regard  to  my  opinions.  I  am  averse  to  war  with 
Spain,  or  with  any  power.  I  would  give  no  just  cause 
of  war  to  any  power — not  to  Spain  herself.  1  have  seen 
enough  of  war,  and  of  its  calamities,  even  when  successful. 
No  country  on  earth  has  more  interest  than  this  in  cultivat- 
ing peace  and  avoiding  war,  as  long  as  it  is  possible  honor- 
ably to  avoid  it.  Gaining  additional  strength  every  day; 
our  numbers  doubling  in  periods  of  twenty-five  years ;  with 
an  income  outstripping  all  our  estimates,  and  so  great,  as, 
after  a  war  in  some  respects  disastrous,  to  furnish  results 
which  carry  astonishment,  if  not  dismay,  into  the  bosom 
of  States  jealous  of  our  rising  importance;  we  have  every 


48 


HENRY  CLAY 


motive  for  the  love  of  peace.  I  cannot,  however,  approve 
in  all  respects  of  the  manner  in  which  our  negotiations  with 
Spain  have  been  conducted.  If  ever  a  favorable  time  ex- 
isted for  the  demand,  on  the  part  of  an  injured  nation,  of 
indemnity  for  past  wrongs  from  the  aggressor,  such  is  the 
present  time.  Impoverished  and  exhausted  at  home,  by 
the  wars  which  have  desolated  the  Peninsula;  with  a  for- 
eign war,  calling  for  infinitely  more  resources,  in  men  and 
money,  than  she  can  possibly  command;  this  is  the  auspi- 
cious period  for  insisting  upon  justice  at  her  hands  in  a 
firm  and  decided  tone.  Time  is  precisely  what  Spain  now 
wants.  Yet  what  are  we  told  by  the  President,  in  his  mes- 
sage at  the  commencement  of  Congress?  That  Spain  has 
procrastinated,  and  we  acquiesced  in  her  procrastination- 
And  the  Secretary  of  State,  in  a  late  communication  with 
Mr.  Onis,  after  ably  vindicating  all  our  rights,  tells  the 
Spanish  Minister,  with  a  good  deal  of  sang-froid,  that  we 
had  patiently  waited  thirteen  years  for  a  redress  of  our 
injuries,  and  that  it  required  no  great  effort  to  wait  longer. 
I  would  have  abstained  from  thus  exposing  our  intentions. 
Avoiding  the  use  of  the  language  of  menace,  I  would  have 
required,  in  temperate  and  decided  terms,  indemnity  for  all 
our  wrongs;  for  the  spoliations  of  our  commerce;  for  the 
interruption  to  the  right  of  depot  at  New  Orleans,  guaran- 
teed by  treaty;  for  the  insults  repeatedly  offered  to  our  flag; 
for  the  Indian  hostilities,  which  she  was  bound  to  prevent; 
for  belligerent  use  of  her  ports  and  territories  by  our  enemy 
during  the  late  war;  and  the  instantaneous  liberation  of  the 
free  citizens  of  the  United  States,  now  imprisoned  in  her 
jails.  Contemporaneously  with  that  demand,  without  wait- 
ing for  her  final  answer,  and  with  a  view  to  the  favorable 
operation  on  her  councils  in  regard  to  our  own  peculiar 


THE    EMANCIPATION    OF    SOUTH  AMERICA 


49 


interests,  as  well  as  in  pstice  to  the  cause  itself,  i  would 
recognize  any  established  government  in  Spanish  America. 
1  would  have  left  Spain  to  draw  her  own  inferences  from 
these  proceedings  as  to  the  ultimate  step  which  this  country 
might  adopt  if  she  longer  withheld  justice  from  us.  And  if 
she  persevered  in  her  iniquity,  after  we  had  conducted  the 
negotiation  in  the  manner  I  have  endeavored  to  describe,  I 
would  then  take  up  and  decide  the  solemn  question  of  peace 
or  war,  with  the  advantage  of  all  the  light  shed  upon  it,  by 
subsequent  events,  and  the  probable  conduct  of  Europe. 

Spain  has  undoubtedly  given  us  abundant  and  just 
cause  for  war.  But  it  is  not  every  cause  of  war  that  should 
lead  to  war.  War  is  one  of  those  dreadful  scourges  that  so 
shakes  the  foundation  of  society,  overturns  or  changes  the 
character  of  government,  interrupts  or  destroys  the  pursuits 
of  private  happiness,  brings,  in  short,  misery  and  wretched- 
ness in  so  many  forms,  and  at  last  is,  in  its  issue,  so  doubt- 
ful and  hazardous,  that  nothing  but  dire  necessity  can 
justify  an  appeal  to  arms.  If  we  are  to  have  war  with 
Spain,  I  have,  however,  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  no 
mode  of  bringing  it  about  could  be  less  fortunate  than  that 
of  seizing,  at  this  time,  upon  her  adjoining  province.  There 
was  a  time,  under  certain  circumstances,  when  we  might 
have  occupied  East  Florida  with  safety;  had  we  then  taken 
It,  our  posture  in  the  negotiation  with  Spain  would  have 
been  totally  different  from  what  it  is.  But  we  have  per- 
mitted that  time,  not  with  my  consent,  to  pass  by  unim- 
proved. If  we  were  now  to  seize  upon  Florida,  after  a 
great  change  in  those  circumstances,  and  after  declaring 
our  intention  to  acquiesce  in  the  procrastination  desired 
by  Spain,  in  what  light  should  we  be  viewed  by  foreign 
powers,  particularly  Great  Britain  ?    We  have  already  been 

Vol.  5-4 


50 


HENRY  CLAY 


accused  of  inordinate  ambition,  and  of  seeking  to  aggran- 
dize ourselves  by  an  extension,  on  all  sides,  of  our  limits. 
Should  we  not,  by  such  an  act  of  violence,  give  color  to  the 
accusation?  No,  Mr.  Chairman,  if  we  are  to  be  involved  in 
a  war  with  Spain,  let  us  have  the  credit  of  disinterestedness. 
Let  us  put  her  yet  more  in  the  wrong.  Let  us  command  the 
respect  which  is  never  withheld  from  those  who  act  a  noble 
and  generous  part.  I  hope  to  communicate  to  the  com- 
mittee the  conviction  which  I  so  strongly  feel,  that  the 
adoption  of  the  amendment  which  I  intend  to  propose 
would  not  hazard,  in  the  slightest  degree,  the  peace  of  the 
country.  But  if  that  peace  is  to  be  endangered,  I  would 
infinitely  rather  it  should  be  for  our  exerting  the  right  ap- 
pertaining to  every  State,  of  acknowledging  the  independ- 
ence of  another  State,  than  for  the  seizure  of  a  province, 
which,  sooner  or  later,  we  must  acquire. 

In  contemplating  the  great  struggle  in  which  Spanish 
America  is  now  engaged,  our  attention  is  fixed  first  by  the 
immensity  and  character  of  the  country  which  Spain  seeks 
again  to  subjugate.  Stretching  on  the  Pacific  Ocean  from 
about  the  fortieth  degree  of  north  latitude  to  about  the 
fifty-fifth  degree  of  south  latitude,  and  extending  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Rio  del  Norte  (exclusive  of  East  Florida), 
around  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  along  the  South  Atlantic  to 
near  Cape  Horn,  it  is  about  five  thousand  miles  in  length, 
and  in  some  places  nearly  three  thousand  in  breadth. 
Within  this  vast  region  we  behold  the  most  sublime  and  ' 
interesting  objects  of  creation,  the  richest  mines  of  the 
precious  metals,  and  the  choicest  productions  of  the  earth. 
We  behold  there  a  spectacle  still  more  interesting  and  sub- 
lime— the  glorious  spectacle  of  eighteen  millions  of  people 
struggling  to  burst  their  chains  and  to  be  free.    When  we 


THE    EMANCirATION    OF    SOUTH  AMERICA  51 

take  a  little  nearer  and  more  detailed  view  wc  perceive  that 
nature  has,  as  it  were,  ordained  that  this  people  and  this 
country  shall  ultimately  constitute  several  different  nations. 
Leaving  the  United  States  on  the  north,  we  come  to  I^ew 
Spain  or  the  viceroyalty  of  Mexico  on  the  south,  passing 
by  Guatemala,  we  reach  the  viceroyalty  of  New  Granada, 
the  late  captain-generalship  of  Venezuela,  and  Guiana, 
lying  on  the  east  side  of  the  Andes.  Stepping  over  the 
Brazils,  we  arrive  at  the  united  provinces  of  La  Plata,  and 
crossing  the  Andes  we  find  Chile  on  their  west  side,  and, 
further  north,  the  viceroyalty  of  Lima,  or  Peru.  Each  of 
these  several  parts  is  sufficient  in  itself  in  point  of  limits 
to  constitute  a  powerful  State;  and,  in  point  of  population, 
that  which  has  the  smallest  contains  enough  to  make  it  re- 
spectable. Throughout  all  the  extent  of  that  great  portion 
of  the  world  which  I  have  attempted  thus  hastily  to  de- 
scribe, the  spirit  of  revolt  against  the  dominion  of  Spain 
has  manifested  itself.  The  revolution  has  been  attended 
with  various  degrees  of  success  in  the  several  parts  of 
Spanish  America.  In  some  it  has  been  already  crowned, 
as  I  shall  endeavor  to  show,  with  complete  success,  and  in 
all  I  am  persuaded  that  independence  has  struck  such  deep 
root,  that  the  power  of  Spain  can  never  eradicate  it.  What 
are  the  causes  of  this  great  movement? 

Three  hundred  years  ago,  upon  the  ruins  of  the  thrones 
of  Montezuma  and  the  Incas  of  Peru,  Spain  erected  the 
most  stupendous  system  of  colonial  despotism  that  the  world 
Has  ever  seen — the  most  vigorous,  the  most  exclusive.  The 
great  principle  and  object  of  this  system  have  been  to  render 
one  of  the  largest  portions  of  the  world  exclusively  subser- 
vient, in  all  its  faculties,  to  the  interests  of  an  inconsider- 
able spot  in  Europe.    To  effectuate  this  aim  of  her  policy, 

J.  OF  ILL  La 


52  HENRY  CLAY 

she  locked  up  Spanish  America  from  all  the  rest  of  the 
world,  and  prohibited,  under  the  severest  penalties,  any 
foreigner  from  entering  any  part  of  it.  To  keep  the  natives 
themselves  ignorant  of  each  other,  and  of  the  strength  and 
resources  of  the  several  parts  of  her  American  possessions, 
she  next  prohibited  the  inhabitants  of  one  viceroy alty  or 
government  from  visiting  those  of  another;  so  that  the  in^ 
habitants  of  Mexico,  for  example,  were  not  allowed  to  enter 
the  viceroyalty  of  New  Granada.  The  agriculture  of  those 
vast  regions  was  so  regulated  and  restrained  as  to  prevent 
all  collision  with  the  agriculture  of  the  Peninsula.  Where 
nature,  by  the  character  and  composition  of  the  soil,  has 
commanded,  the  abominable  system  of  Spain  has  forbidden, 
the  growth  of  certain  articles.  Thus  the  olive  and  the  vine, 
to  which  Spanish  America  is  so  well  adapted,  are  pro- 
hibited, wherever  their  culture  can  interfere  with  the  olive 
and  the  vine  of  the  Peninsula.  The  commerce  of  the  coun- 
try, in  the  direction  and  objects  of  the  exports  and  imports, 
is  also  subjected  to  the  narrow  and  selfish  views  of  Spain, 
and  fettered  by  the  odious  spirit  of  monopoly,  existing  in 
Cadiz.  She  has  sought,  by  scattering  discord  among  the 
several  castes  of  her  American  population,  and  by  a  de- 
basing course  of  education,  to  perpetuate  her  oppression. 
Whatever  concerns  public  law,  or  the  science  of  govern- 
ment, all  writings  upon  political  economy,  or  that  tend  to 
give  vigor  and  freedom  and  expansion  to  the  intellect,  are 
prohibited.  Gentlemen  would  be  astonished  by  the  long 
list  of  distinguished  authors,  whom  she  proscribes,  to  be 
found  in  Depons  and  other  works.  A  main  feature  in  her 
policy  is  that  which  constantly  elevates  the  European  and 
depresses  the  American  character.  Out  of  upward  of  seven 
hundred  and  fifty  viceroys  and  captains-general,  whom  she 


THE    EMANCIPATION    OF    SOUTH   AMERICA  53 

has  appointed  since  the  conquest  of  America,  about  eigh- 
teen only  have  been  from  the  body  of  her  American  popu- 
lation. On  all  occasions,  she  seeks  to  raise  and  promote  her 
European  subjects,  and  to  degrade  and  humiliate  the  Creoles, 
Wherever  in  America  her  sway  extends,  everything  seems 
to  pine  and  wither  beneath  its  baneful  influence.  The  rich- 
est regions  of  the  earth ;  man,  his  happiness  and  his  educa- 
tion, all  the  fine  faculties  of  his  soul,  are  regulated  and 
modified  and  molded  to  suit  the  execrable  purposes  of  an 
inexorable  despotism. 

Such  is  the  brief  and  imperfect  picture  of  the  state  of 
things  in  Spanish  America,  in  1808,  when  the  famous  trans- 
actions of  Bayonne  occurred.  The  King  of  Spain  and  the 
Indies  (for  Spanish  America  has  always  constituted  an  in- 
tegral part  of  the  Spanish  empire)  abdicated  his  throne  and 
became  a  voluntary  captive.  Even  at  this  day  one  does  not 
know  whether  he  should  most  condemn  the  baseness  and 
perfidy  of  the  one  party,  or  despise  the  meanness  and  im- 
becility of  the  other.  If  the  obligation  of  obedience  and 
allegiance  existed  on  the  part  of  the  colonies  to  the  King 
of  Spain,  it  was  founded  on  the  duty  of  protection  which 
he  owed  them.  By  disqualifying  himself  for  the  perform- 
ance of  this  duty,  they  became  released  from  that  obliga- 
tion. The  monarchy  was  dissolved,  and  each  integral  part 
had  a  right  to  seek  its  own  happiness  by  the  institution  of 
any  new  government  adapted  to  its  wants.  Joseph  Bona- 
parte, the  successor  de  facto  of  Ferdinand,  recognized  this 
right  on  the  part  of  the  colonies,  and  recommended  them 
to  establish  their  independence.  Thus,  upon  the  ground 
of  strict  right,  upon  the  footing  of  a  mere  legal  question, 
governed  by  forensic  rules,  the  colonies,  being  absolved  by 
the  acts  of  the  parent  country  from  the  duty  of  subjection 


54 


HENRY  CLAY 


to  it,  had  an  iDdisputable  right  to  set  up  for  themselves. 
But  I  take  a  broader  and  a  bolder  position.  I  maintain  that 
an  oppressed  people  are  authorized,  whenever  they  can,  to 
rise  and  break  their  fetters.  This  was  the  great  principle 
of  the  English  revolution.  It  was  the  great  principle  ot 
our  own.  Yattel,  if  authority  were  wanting,  expressly  sup- 
ports this  right.  We  must  pass  sentence  of  condemnation 
upon  the  founders  of  our  liberty,  say  that  they  were  rebels, 
traitors,  and  that  we  are  at  this  moment  legislating  with- 
out competent  powers,  before  we  can  condemn  the  cause 
of  Spanish  America.  Our  revolution  was  mainly  directed 
against  the  mere  theory  of  tyranny.  We  had  suffered  but 
comparatively  little;  we  had,  in  some  respects,  been  kindly 
treated;  but  our  intrepid  and  intelligent  fathers  saw,  in  the 
usurpation  of  the  power  to  levy  an  inconsiderable  tax, 
the  long  train  of  oppressive  acts  that  were  to  follow. 
They  rose;  they  breasted  the  storm;  they  achieved  our 
freedom.  Spanish  America  for  centuries  has  been  doomed 
to  the  practical  effects  of  an  odious  tyranny.  If  we  were 
justified,  she  is  more  than  justified. 

I  am  no  propagandist.  I  would  not  seek  to  force  upon 
other  nations  our  principles  and  our  liberty,  if  they  do  not 
want  them.  I  would  not  disturb  the  repose  even  of  a  de- 
testable despotism.  But,  if  an  abused  and  oppressed  people 
will  their  freedom;  if  they  seek  to  establish  it;  we  have  o 
right,  as  a  sovereign  power,  to  notice  the  fact  and  to  act  as^ 
circumstances  ana  our  interest  require.  I  will  say,  in  the 
language  of  the  venerated  Father  of  my  Country,  *'born  in 
a  land  of  liberty,  my  anxious  recollections,  my  sympathetic 
feelings,  and  my  best  wishes,  are  irresistibly  excited,  when- 
soever, in  any  country,  I  see  an  oppressed  nation  unfurl 
the  banners  of  freedom."    Whenever  I  think  of  Spanish 


THE    EMANCIPATION    OF    SOUTH  AMERICA 


55 


America,  the  image  irresistibly  forces  itself  upon  my  mind, 
of  an  elder  brother,  whose  education  has  been  neglected, 
whose  person  has  been  abused  and  maltreated,  and  who  has 
been  disinherited  by  the  unkindness  of  an  unnatural  parent. 
And,  when  I  contemplate  the  glorious  struggle  which  that 
country  is  now  making,  I  think  I  behold  that  brother  rising, 
by  the  power  and  energy  of  his  fine  native  genius,  to  the 
manly  rank  which  nature,  and  nature's  God,  intended  for 
him.  .  .  . 

In  the  establishment  of  the  independence  of  Spanish 
America,  the  United  States  have  the  deepest  interest.  1 
have  no  hesitation  in  asserting  my  firm  belief  that  there  is 
no  question  in  the  foreign  policy  of  this  country,  which  has 
ever  arisen,  or  which  I  can  conceive  as  ever  occurring,  in 
the  decision  of  which  we  have  had  or  can  have  so  much  at 
stake.  This  interest  concerns  our  politics,  our  commerce, 
our  navigation.  There  cannot  be  a  doubt  that  Spanish 
America,  once  independent,  whatever  may  be  the  form  of 
government  established  in  its  several  parts,  these  govern- 
ments will  be  animated  by  an  American  feeling,  and  guided 
by  an  American  policy.  They  will  obey  the  laws  of  the 
system  of  the  new  world,  of  which  they  will  compose  a 
part,  in  contradistinction  to  that  of  Europe.  Without  the 
influence  of  that  vortex  in  Europe,  the  balance  of  power 
between  its  several  parts,  the  preservation  of  which  has  so 
often  drenched  Europe  in  blood,  America  is  sufficiently 
remote  to  contemplate  the  new  wars  which  are  to  afflict  that 
quarter  of  the  globe,  as  a  calm  if  not  a  cold  and  indifferent 
spectator.  In  relation  to  those  wars,  the  several  parts  of 
America  will  generally  stand  neutral.  And  as,  during  the 
period  when  they  rage,  it  will  be  important  that  a  liberal 
system  of  neutrality  should  be  adopted  and  observed,  all 


56 


HENET  CLAY 


America  will  be  interested  in  maintaining  and  enforcing 
such  a  system.  The  independence  of  Spanish  Americaj 
then,  is  an  interest  of  primary  consideration.  Next  to 
that,  and  highly  important  in  itself,  is  the  consideration  ct 
the  nature  of  their  governments.  That  is  a  question,  how- 
ever, for  themselves.  They  will,  no  doubt,  adopt  those 
kinds  of  governments  which  are  best  suited  to  their  condi- 
tion, best  calculated  for  their  happiness.  Anxious  as  I  am 
that  they  should  be  free  governments,  we  have  no  right 
to  prescribe  for  them.  They  are,  and  ought  to  be,  the  sole 
judges  for  themselves.  I  am  strongly  inclined  to  believe 
that  they  will  in  most,  if  not  all  parts  of  their  country, 
establish  free  governments.  We  are  their  great  example. 
Of  us  they  constantly  speak  as  of  brothers,  having  a  similar 
origin.  They  adopt  our  principles,  copy  our  institutions, 
and,  in  many  instances,  employ  the  very  language  and 
sentiments  of  our  Kevolutionary  papers: 

'* Having  then  been  thus  impelled  by  the  Spaniards  and 
their  king,  we  have  calculated  all  the  consequences,  and 
have  constituted  ourselves  independent,  prepared  to  exer- 
cise the  right  of  nature  to  defend  ourselves  against  the 
ravages  of  tyranny,  at  the  risk  of  our  honor,  our  lives,  and 
fortune.  We  have  sworn  to  the  only  King  we  acknowl- 
edge, the  Supreme  Judge  of  the  world,  that  we  will  not 
abandon  the  cause  of  justice;  that  we  will  not  suffer  the 
country  which  he  has  given  us,  to  be  buried  in  ruins,  and 
inundated  with  blood,  by  the  hands  of  the  executioner,*' 
etc. 

Bat  it  is  sometimes  said  that  they  are  too  ignorant  and 
too  superstitious  to  admit  of  the  existence  of  free  govern- 
ment. This  charge  of  ignorance  is  often  urged  by  persons 
themselves  actually  ignorant  of  the  real  condition  of  that 
people.    I  deny  the  alleged  fact  of  ignorance;  I  deny  the 


THE    EMANCIPATION    OF    SOUTH  AMERICA 


57 


inference  from  that  fact,  if  it  were  true,  that  they  want 
capacity  for  free  government.  And  I  refuse  assent  to  the 
farther  conclusion  if  the  fact  were  true,  and  the  inference 
just,  that  we  are  to  be  indifferent  to  their  fate.  All  the 
writers  of  the  most  established  authority,  Depons,  Hum- 
boldt, and  others,  concur  in  assigning  to  the  people  of 
Spanish  America  great  quickness,  genius,  and  particular 
aptitude  for  the  acquisition  of  the  exact  sciences,  and  others 
which  they  have  been  allowed  to  cultivate.  In  astronomy, 
geology,  mineralogy,  chemistry,  botany,  and  so  forth,  they 
are  allowed  to  make  distinguished  proficiency.  They  justly 
boast  of  their  Abzate,  Velasquez,  and  Gama,  and  other  illus- 
trious contributors  to  science.  They  have  nine  universities, 
and  in  the  City  of  Mexico,  it  is  affirmed  by  Humboldt,  there 
are  more  solid  scientific  establishments  than  in  any  city 
even  of  North  America.  I  would  refer  to  the  message  of 
the  supreme  director  of  La  Plata,  which  1  shall  hereafter 
have  occasion  to  use  for  another  purpose,  as  a  model  of 
fine  composition  of  a  State  paper,  challenging  a  comparison 
with  any,  the  most  celebrated,  that  ever  issued  from  the 
pens  of  Jefferson  or  Madison.  Gentlemen  will  egregiously 
err,  if  they  form  their  opinions  of  the  present  condition  of 
Spanish  America  from  what  it  was  under  the  debasing  sys- 
tem of  Spain.  The  eight  years'  revolution  in  which  it  has 
been  engaged  has  already  produced  a  powerful  effect.  Edu- 
cation has  been  attended  to,  and  genius  developed. 

'*As  soon  as  the  project  of  the  revolution  arose  on 
the  shores  of  La  Plata,  genius  and  talent  exhibited  their 
influence;  the  capacity  of  the  people  became  manifest,  and 
the  means  of  acquiring  knowledge  were  soon  made  the 
favorite  pursuit  of  the  youth.  As  far  as  the  wants  or 
the  inevitable  interruption  of  affairs  allowed,  everything 


58 


HENRY  CLAY 


has  been  done  to  disseminate  useful  information.  The 
liberty  of  the  press  has  indeed  met  with  some  occasional 
checks;  but  in  Buenos  Ay  res  alone,  as  many  periodical 
works  weekly  issue  from  the  press  as  in  Spain  and  Portugal 
put  together/'' 

It  is  not  therefore  true,  that  the  imputed  ignorance  ex- 
ists, but,  if  it  do,  I  repeat,  I  dispute  the  inference.  It  is 
the  doctrine  of  thrones,  that  man  is  too  ignorant  to  govern 
himself.  Their  partisans  assert  his  incapacity,  in  reference 
to  all  nations;  if  they  cannot  command  universal  assent  to 
the  proposition,  it  is  then  demanded  to  particular  nations; 
and  our  pride  and  our  presumption  too  often  make  converts 
of  us.  I  contend,  that  it  is  to  arraign  the  dispositions  of 
Providence  himself,  to  suppose  that  he  has  created  beings 
incapable  of  governing  themselves,  and  to  be  trampled  on 
by  kings.  Self-government  is  the  natural  government  of 
man,  and  for  proof  I  refer  to  the  aborigines  of  our  own 
land.  Were  I  to  speculate  in  hypotheses  unfavorable  to 
human  liberty,  my  speculations  should  be  founded  rather 
upon  the  vices,  refinements,  or  density  of  population. 
Crowded  together  in  compact  masses,  even  if  they  were 
philosophers,  the  contagion  of  the  passions  is  communicated 
and  caught,  and  the  effect  too  often,  I  admit,  is  the  over- 
throw of  liberty.  Dispersed  over  such  an  immense  space  as 
that  on  which  the  people  of  Spanish  America  are  spread, 
their  physical,  and  I  believe  also  their  moral  condition, 
both  favor  their  liberty. 

With  regard  to  their  superstition,  they  worship  the  same 
God  with  us.  Their  prayers  are  offered  up  in  their  temples 
to  the  same  Eedeemer  whose  intercession  we  expect  to  save 
us.  Nor  is  there  anything  in  the  Catholic  religion  unfavor- 
able to  freedom.    All  religions  united  with  government  are 


"THE    A.MKKICAN    SYSTEM**  59 

more  or  less  inimical  to  liberty.  All,  separated  from  gov- 
ernment, are  compatible  with  liberty.  If  the  people  of 
Spanish  America  have  not  already  gone  as  far  in  religious 
toleration  as  we  have,  the  difference  in  their  condition  from 
ours  should  not  be  forgotten.  Everything  is  progressive; 
and,  in  time,  I  hope  to  see  them  imitating  in  this  respect 
our  example.  But  grant  that  the  people  of  Spanish  America 
are  ignorant  and  incompetent  for  free  government,  to  whom 
is  that  ignorance  to  be  ascribed  ?  Is  it  not  to  the  execrable 
system  of  Spain,  which  she  seeks  again  to  establish  and  to 
perpetuate  ?  So  far  from  chilling  our  hearts,  it  ought  to  in- 
crease our  solicitude  for  our  unfortunate  brethren.  It  ought 
to  animate  us  to  desire  the  redemption  of  the  minds  and  the 
bodies  of  unborn  millions  from  the  brutifying  effects  of  a 
system  whose  tendency  is  to  stifle  the  faculties  of  the  soul 
and  to  degrade  man  to  the  level  of  beasts.  I  would  invoke 
the  spirits  of  our  departed  fathers.  Was  it  for  yourselves 
only  that  you  nobly  fought?  No,  no!  It  was  the  chains 
that  were  forging  for  your  posterity  that  made  you  fly  to 
arms,  and,  scattering  the  elements  of  these  chains  to  the 
winds,  you  transmitted  to  us  the  rich  inheritance  of 
liberty. 

"THE  AMERICAN  SYSTEM"  AND  THE  HOME  MARKET 

DELIVERED  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  SENATE.  FEBRUARY  2.  1832-GIVEN 
BY  BENTON  AS  AN  UNABRIDGED  REPORT 

EIGHT  years  ago  it  was  my  painful  duty  to  present  to 
the  House  of  Congress  an  unexaggerated  picture  of 
the  general  distress  pervading  the  whole  land.  We 
must  all  yet  remember  some  of  its  frightful  features.   We  all 
know  that  the  people  were  then  oppressed  and  borne  down 


60 


HENRY  CLAY 


by  an  enormous  load  of  debt;  that  the  value  of  property  was 
at  the  lowest  point  of  depression;  that  ruinous  sales  and  sac- 
rifices were  everywhere  made  of  I'eal  estate;  that  stop  laws 
and  relief  laws  and  paper  money  were  adopted  to  save  the 
people  from  impending  destruction;  that  a  deficit  in  the  pub- 
lic revenue  existed,  which  compelled  the  government  to  seize 
upon,  and  divert  from  its  legitimate  object,  the  appropriation 
to  the  sinking  fund,  to  redeem  the  national  debt;  and  that 
our  commerce  and  navigation  were  threatened  with  a  com- 
plete paralysis.  In  short,  sir,  if  I  were  to  select  any  term 
of  seven  years  since  the  adoption  of  the  present  Constitu- 
tion, which  exhibited  a  scene  of  the  most  widespread  dis- 
may and  desolation,  it  would  be  exactly  that  term  of  seven 
years  which  immediately  preceded  the  establishment  of  the 
tariff  of  1824. 

I  have  now  to  perform  the  more  pleasing  task  of  exhib- 
iting an  imperfect  sketch  of  the  existing  state  of  the  unpar- 
alleled prosperity  of  the  country.  On  a  general  survey,  we 
behold  cultivation  extended,  the  arts  flourishing,  the  face  of 
the  country  improved,  our  people  fully  and  profitably  em- 
ployed, and  the  public  countenance  exhibiting  tranquillity, 
contentment,  and  happiness.  And,  if  we  descend  into  par- 
ticulars, we  have  the  agreeable  contemplation  of  a  people 
out  of  debt;  land  rising  slowly  in  value,  but  in  a  secure 
and  salutary  degree;  a  ready  though  not  extravagant 
market  for  all  the  surplus  productions  of  our  industry; 
innumerable  flocks  and  herds  browsing  and  gambolling  on 
ten  thousand  hills  and  plains,  covered  with  rich  and  ver- 
dant grasses;  our  cities  expanded,  and  whole  villages 
springing  up,  as  it  were,  by  enchantment;  our  exports 
and  imports  increased  and  increasing;  our  tonnage,  for- 
eign and  coastwise,  swelling  and  fully  occupied;  the  rivers 


*•  THE   AMERICAN    SYSTEM  " 


61 


of  our  interior  animated  by  the  perpeiual  thunder  and  light- 
ning of  countless  steamboats;  the  carrencj  sound  and  abun- 
dant; the  public  debt  of  two  wars  nearly  redeemed;  and,  to 
crown  all,  the  public  treasury  overflowing,  embarrassing  Con- 
gress, not  to  find  subjects  of  taxation,  but  to  select  the  ob- 
jects which  shall  be  liberated  from  the  impost.  If  the  term 
of  seven  years  were  to  be  selected  of  the  greatest  prosperity 
which  this  people  have  enjoyed  since  the  establishment  of 
their  present  Constitution,  it  would  be  exactly  that  period 
of  seven  years  which  immediately  followed  the  passage  of 
the  tariff  of  1824. 

This  transformation  of  the  condition  of  the  country  from 
gloom  and  distress  to  brightness  and  prosperity  has  been 
mainly  the  work  of  American  legislation,  fostering  Ameri- 
can industry,  instead  of  allowing  it  to  be  controlled  by  for- 
eign legislation,  cherishing  foreign  industry.  The  foes  of 
the  American  system,  in  1824,  with  great  boldness  and  con- 
fidence, predicted:  First,  The  ruin  of  the  public  revenue, 
and  the  creation  of  a  necessity  to  resort  to  direct  taxation. 
The  gentleman  from  South  Carolina — Mr.  Hayne — I  believe, 
thought  that  the  tariff  cf  1824  would  operate  a  reduction  of 
revenue  to  the  large  amount  of  eight  millions  of  dollars. 
Second,  The  destruction  of  our  navigation.  Third,  The 
desolation  of  commercial  cities.  And  fourth.  The  aug- 
mentation of  the  price  of  objects  of  consumption,  and  far- 
ther decline  in  that  of  the  articles  of  our  exports.  Every 
prediction  which  they  made  has  failed — utterly  failed.  In- 
stead of  the  ruin  of  the  public  revenue,  with  which  they 
then  sought  to  deter  us  from  the  adoption  of  the  Ameri 
can  system,  we  are  now  threatened  with  its  subversion, 
by  the  vast  amount  of  the  public  revenue  produced  by 
that  system. 


62 


HENRY  CLAY 


Every  branch  of  our  navigation  has  increased.  As  to  the 
desolation  of  our  cities,  let  us  take,  as  an  example,  the  con- 
dition of  the  largest  and  most  commercial  of  all  of  them,  the 
great  northern  capital.  I  have  in  my  hands  the  assessed 
value  of  real  estate  in  the  city  of  New  York,  from  1817  to 
1831.  This  value  is  canvassed,  contested,  scrutinized,  and 
adjudged,  by  the  proper  sworn  authorities.  It  is,  there- 
fore, entitled  to  full  credence.  During  the  first  term,  com- 
mencing with  1817,  and  ending  in  the  year  of  the  passage  of 
the  tariff  of  1824,  the  amount  of  the  value  of  real  estate  was, 
the  first  year,  $57,799,435,  and,  after  various  fluctuations  in 
the  intermediate  period,  it  settled  down  at  $52,019,730,  ex- 
hibiting a  decrease,  in  seven  years,  of  $5,779,705.  During 
the  year  1825,  after  the  passage  of  the  tariff,  it  rose,  and, 
gradually  ascending  throughout  the  whole  of  the  latter 
period  of  seven  years,  it  finally,  in  1831,  reached  the  as- 
tonishing height  of  $95,716,485!  Now,  if  it  be  said  that 
this  rapid  growth  of  the  city  of  New  York  was  the  effect 
of  foreign  commerce,  then  it  was  not  correctly  predicted, 
in  1824,  that  the  tariff  would  destroy  foreign  commerce 
and  desolate  our  commercial  cities.  If,  on  the  contrary, 
it  be  the  effect  of  internal  trade,  then  internal  trade  can- 
not be  justly  chargeable  with  the  evil  consequences  im- 
puted to  it.  The  truth  is,  it  is  the  joint  effect  of  both 
principles,  the  domestic  industry  nourishing  the  foreign 
trade,  and  the  foreign  commerce,  in  turn,  nourishing  the 
domestic  industry.  Nowhere  more  than  in  New  York  is 
the  combination  of  both  principles  so  completely  devel- 
oped. In  the  progress  of  my  argument  I  will  consider 
the  effect  upon  the  price  of  commodities  produced  by  the 
American  system,  and  show  that  the  very  reverse  of  the 
prediction  of  its  foes,  in  1824,  has  actually  happened. 


"  THE   AMERICAN    SYSTEM  " 


63 


While  th«i3  wc  behold  the  entire  failure  of  all  that  was 
foretold  against  the  system,  it  is  a  subject  of  just  felicita- 
tion to  its  friends,  that  all  their  anticipations  of  its  benefits 
have  been  fulfilled,  or  are  in  progress  of  fulfilment.  The 
honorable  gentleman  from  South  Carolina  has  made  allu- 
sion to  a  speech  made  by  me,  in  1824,  in  the  other  House, 
in  support  of  the  tariff,  and  to  which,  otherwise,  I  should 
not  have  particularly  referred.  But  I  would  ask  any  one, 
who  could  now  command  the  courage  to  peruse  that  long 
production,  what  principle  there  laid  down  is  not  true? 
what  prediction  then  made  has  been  falsified  by  practical 
experience  ? 

It  is  now  proposed  to  abolish  the  system  to  which  we 
owe  so  much  of  the  public  prosperity,  and  it  is  urged  that 
the  arrival  of  the  period  of  the  redemption  of  the  public 
debt  has  been  confidently  looked  to  as  presenting  a  suitable 
occasion  to  rid  the  country  of  the  evils  with  which  the  sys- 
tem is  alleged  to  be  fraught.  Not  an  inattentive  observer 
of  passing  events,  I  have  been  aware  that,  among  those 
who  were  most  eagerly  pressing  the  payment  of  the  public 
debt,  and,  upon  that  ground,  were  opposing  appropriations 
to  other  great  interests,  there  were  some  who  cared  less 
about  the  debt  than  the  accomplishment  of  other  objects. 
But  the  people  of  the  United  States  have  not  coupled  the 
payment  of  their  public  debt  with  the  destruction  of  the  pro- 
tection of  their  industry  against  foreign  laws  and  foreign 
industry.  They  have  been  accustomed  to  regard  the  ex- 
tinction of  the  public  debt  as  relief  from  a  burden,  and  not 
as  the  infliction  of  a  curse.  If  it  is  to  be  attended  or  fol- 
lowed by  the  subversion  of  the  American  system,  and  the 
exposure  of  our  establishments  and  our  productions  to 
the  unguarded  consequences  of  the  selfish  policy  of  for- 


64 


HENRY  CLAY 


eiga  powers,  the  payment  of  the  public  debt  will  be  the 
bitterest  of  curses.    Its  fruit  will  be  like  the  fruit 

**0f  that  forbidden  tree,  whose  mortal  taste 
Brought  death  into  the  world,  and  all  our  woe 
With  loss  of  Eden. " 

If  the  system  of  protection  be  founded  on  principles  er- 
roneous in  theory,  pernicious  in  practice — above  all,  if  it 
be  unconstitutional,  as  is  alleged,  it  ought  to  be  forthwith 
abolished,  and  not  a  vestige  of  it  suffered  to  remain.  But, 
before  we  sanction  this  sweeping  denunciation,  let  us  look 
a  little  at  this  system,  its  magnitude,  its  ramifications,  its 
duration,  and  the  high  authorities  which  have  sustained  it. 
We  shall  see  that  its  foes  will  have  accomplished  compara- 
tively nothing,  after  having  achieved  their  present  aim  of 
breaking  down  our  iron-foundries,  our  woollen,  cotton,  and 
hemp  manufactories,  and  our  sugar  plantations.  The  de- 
struction of  these  would  undoubtedly  lead  to  the  sacrifice 
of  immense  capital,  the  ruin  of  many  thousands  of  our  fel 
low-citizens,  and  incalculable  loss  to  the  whole  communi- 
ty. But  their  prostration  would  not  disfigure,  nor  produce 
greater  effect  upon  the  whole  system  of  protection,  in  all  its 
branches,  than  the  destruction  of  the  beautiful  domes  upon 
the  Capitol  would  occasion  to  the  magnificent  edifice  which 
they  surmount.  Why,  sir,  there  is  scarcely  an  interest, 
scarcely  a  vocation  in  society,  which  is  not  embraced  by 
the  beneficence  of  this  system. 

It  comprehends  our  coasting  tonnage  and  trade,  from 
which  all  foreign  tonnage  is  absolutely  excluded. 

It  includes  all  our  foreign  tonnage,  with  the  inconsider- 
able exception  made  by  treaties  of  reciprocity  with  a  few 
foreign  powers. 


"THE   AMERICAN    SYSTEM  " 


65 


It  embraces  our  fisheries  and  all  our  hardy  and  enter- 
prising fishermen. 

It  extends  to  all  lower  Louisiana,  the  delta  of  which 
might  as  well  be  submerged  again  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
from  which  it  has  been  a  gradual  conquest,  as  now  to  be 
deprived  of  the  protecting  duty  upon  its  great  staple. 

It  affects  the  cotton  planter  himself,  and  the  tobacco 
planter,  both  of  whom  enjoy  protection. 

Such  are  some  of  the  items  of  this  vast  system  of  protec- 
tion, which  it  is  now  proposed  to  abandon.  We  might  well 
pause  and  contemplate,  if  hunaan  imagination  could  con- 
ceive the  extent  of  mischief  and  ruin  from  its  total  over- 
throw, before  we  proceed  to  the  work  of  destruction.  Its 
duration  is  worthy,  also,  of  serious  consideration.  Not  to 
go  behind  the  Constitution,  its  date  is  coeval  with  that 
instrument.  It  began  on  the  ever-memorable  fourth  day 
of  July — the  fourth  day  of  July,  1789.  The  second  act 
which  stands  recorded  in  the  statute  book,  bearing  the 
illustrious  signature  of  George  Washington,  laid  the  cor- 
nerstone of  the  whole  system.  That  there  might  be  no 
mistake  about  the  matter,  it  was  then  solemnly  proclaimed 
to  the  American  people  and  to  the  world,  that  it  was  nec- 
essary, for  *'the  encouragement  and  protection  of  manufac- 
tures," that  duties  should  be  laid.  It  is  in  vain  to  urge  the 
small  amount  of  the  measure  of  protection  then  extended. 
The  great  principle  was  then  established  by  the  fathers  of 
the  Constitution,  with  the  Father  of  his  Country  at  their 
head.  And  it  cannot  now  be  questioned,  that,  if  the  gov- 
ernment had  not  then  been  new  and  the  subject  untried,  a 
greater  measure  of  protection  would  have  been  applied,  if 
it  had  been  supposed  necessary.  Shortly  after,  the  master 
minds  of  Jefferson  and  Hamilton  were  brought  to  »ct  on 

Vol.  5-5 


66 


HENRY  CLAY 


this  interesting  subject.  Taking  views  of  it  appertaining 
to  the  departments  of  Foreign  Affairs  and  of  the  Treasury, 
which  they  respectively  filled,  they  presented,  severally, 
reports  which  yet  remain  monuments  of  their  profound 
wisdom,  and  came  to  the  same  conclusion  of  protection 
to  American  industry.  Mr.  Jefferson  argued  that  foreign 
restrictions,  foreign  prohibitions,  and  foreign  high  duties, 
ought  to  be  met,  at  home,  by  American  restrictions,  Amer- 
ican prohibitions,  and  American  high  duties.  Mr.  Hamil- 
ton, surveying  the  entire  ground,  and  looking  at  the  in- 
herent nature  of  the  subject,  treated  it  with  an  ability 
which,  if  ever  equalled,  has  not  been  surpassed,  and  ear- 
nestly recommended  protection. 

The  subject  of  the  American  system  was  again  brought 
up  in  1820,  by  the  bill  reported  by  the  Chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  Manufactures,  now  a  member  of  the  bench 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  and  the  prin- 
ciple was  successfully  maintained  by  the  representatives  of 
the  people;  but  the  bill  which  they  passed  was  defeated 
in  the  Senate.  It  was  revived  in  1824,  the  whole  ground 
carefully  and  deliberately  explored,  and  the  bill  then  in- 
troduced, receiving  all  the  sanctions  of  the  Constitution, 
became  the  law  of  the  land.  An  amendment  of  the  system 
was  proposed  in  1828,  to  the  history  of  which  I  refer  with 
no  agreeable  recollections.  The  bill  of  that  year,  in  some 
of  its  provisions,  was  framed  on  principles  directly  adverse 
to  the  declared  wishes  of  the  friends  of  the  policy  of  protec- 
tion. I  have  heard  (without  vouching  for  the  fact)  that  it 
was  so  framed,  upon  the  advice  of  a  prominent  citizen,  now 
abroad,  with  the  view  of  ultimately  defeating  the  bill,  and 
with  assurances  that,  being  altogether  unacceptable  to  the 
friends  of  the  American  system,  the  bill  would  be  lost.  Be 


"  THE    AMERICAN  SYSTEM 


67 


that  as  it  may,  the  most  exceptional  features  of  the  bill  were 
stamped  upon  it,  against  the  earnest  remonstrances  of  the 
friends  of  the  system,  by  the  votes  of  Southern  members, 
upon  a  principle,  I  think,  as  unsound  in  legislation  as  it  is 
reprehensible  in  ethics.  The  bill  was  passed,  notwithstand- 
ing, it  having  been  deemed  better  to  take  the  bad  along  with 
the  good  which  it  contained  than  reject  it  altogether.  Sub- 
sequent legislation  has  corrected  very  much  the  error  then 
perpetrated,  but  still  that  measure  is  vehemently  denounced 
by  gentlemen  who  contributed  to  make  it  what  it  was. 

Thus,  sir,  has  this  great  system  of  protection  been  grad- 
ually built  stone  upon  stone,  and  step  by  step,  from  the 
fourth  of  July,  1789,  down  to  the  present  period.  In  every 
stage  of  its  progress  it  has  received  the  deliberate  sanction 
of  Congress.  A  vast  majority  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States  has  approved,  and  continues  to  approve  it.  Every 
Chief  Magistrate  of  the  United  States,  from  Washington 
to  the  present,  in  some  form  or  other,  has  given  to  it  the 
authority  of  his  name;  and,  however  the  opinions  of  the  ex- 
isting President  are  interpreted  south  of  Mason  and  Dixon's 
Line,  on  the  north  they  are,  at  least,  understood  to  favor 
the  establishment  of  a  judicious  tariff. 

The  question,  therefore,  which  we  are  now  called  upon 
to  determine  is  not  whether  we  shall  establish  a  new  and 
doubtful  system  of  policy,  just  proposed,  and  for  the  first 
time  presented  to  our  consideration,  but  whether  we  shall 
break  down  and  destroy  a  long-established  system,  patiently 
and  carefully  built  up,  and  sanctioned,  during  a  series  of 
years,  again  and  again  by  the  nation  and  its  highest  and 
most  revered  authorities.  And  are  we  not  bound  deliber- 
ately to  consider  whether  we  can  proceed  to  this  work  of 
destruction  without  a  violation  of  the  public  faith?  The 


68 


HENRY  CLAY 


people  of  the  United  States  have  justly  supposed  that  the 
policy  of  protecting  their  industry  against  foreign  legislation 
and  foreign  industry  was  fully  settled,  not  by  a  single  act, 
but  by  repeated  and  deliberate  acts  of  government  per- 
formed at  distant  and  frequent  intervals.  In  full  confi- 
dence that  the  policy  was  firmly  and  unchangeably  fixed, 
thousands  upon  thousands  have  invested  their  capital,  pur- 
chased a  vast  amount  of  real  and  other  estate,  made  perma- 
nent establishments,  and  accommodated  their  industry.  Can 
we  expose  to  utter  and  irretrievable  ruin  this  countless  mul- 
titude without  justly  incurring  the  reproach  of  violating  the 
national  faith  ? 

I  shall  not  discuss  the  constitutional  question.  Without 
meaning  any  disrespect  to  those  who  raise  it,  if  it  be  debat- 
able, it  has  been  sufficiently  debated.  The  gentleman  from 
South  Carolina  suffered  it  to  fall  unnoticed  from  his  budget; 
and  it  was  not  until  after  he  had  closed  his  speech  and  re- 
sumed his  seat  that  it  occurred  to  him  that  he  had  forgotten 
it,  when  he  again  addressed  the  Senate,  and,  by  a  sort  of 
protestation  against  any  conclusion  from  his  silence,  put 
forward  the  objection.  The  recent  Free  Trade  Convention 
at  Philadelphia,  it  is  well  known,  were  divided  on  the  ques- 
tion ;  and  although  the  topic  is  noticed  in  their  address  to 
the  public,  they  do  not  avow  their  own  belief  that  the 
American  system  is  unconstitutional,  but  represent  that 
such  is  the  opinion  of  respectable  portions  of  the  Ameri- 
can people.  Another  address  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  from  a  high  source,  during  the  past  year,  treating 
this  subject,  does  not  assert  the  opinion  of  the  distinguished 
author,  but  states  that  of  others  to  be  that  it  is  unconstitu- 
tional. From  which  I  infer  that  he  himself  did  not  believe 
it  unconstitutional. 


"  THE    AMERICAN    SYSTEM  " 


69 


Here  the  Vice-President  (Mr.  Calhoun)  interposed,  and 
remarked  that  if  the  Senator  from  Kentucky  alluded  to  him, 
he  must  say  that  his  opinion  was  that  the  measure  was  un- 
constitutionah 

When,  sir — said  Mr.  Clay — I  contended  with  you,  side 
by  side,  and  with  perhaps  less  zeal  than  you  exhibited,  in 
1816,  I  did  not  understand  you  then  to  consider  the  policy 
forbidden  by  the  Constitution, 

The  Vice-President  again  interposed,  and  said  that  the 
constitutional  question  was  not  debated  at  that  time,  and 
that  he  had  never  expressed  an  opinion  contrary  to  that 
now  intimated. 

I  give  way  with  pleasure — said  Mr.  Clay — to  these  ex- 
planations, which  I  hope  will  always  be  made  when  I  say 
anything  bearing  on  the  individual  opinions  of  the  Chair. 
I  know  the  delicacy  of  the  position,  and  sympathize  with 
the  incumbent,  whoever  he  may  be.  It  is  true,  the  ques- 
tion was  not  debated  in  1816;  and  why  not?  Because  it 
was  not  debatable;  it  was  then  believed  not  fairly  to  arise. 
It  never  has  been  made  as  a  distinct,  substantial,  and  lead- 
ing point  of  objection.  It  never  was  made  until  the  discus- 
sion of  the  tariff  of  1824,  when  it  was  rather  hinted  at,  as 
against  the  spirit  of  the  Constitution,  than  formally  an- 
nounced as  being  contrary  to  the  provisions  of  that  instru- 
ment. What  was  not  dreamed  of  before,  or  in  1816,  and 
scarcely  thought  of  in  1824,  is  now  made  by  excited  imagi- 
nations to  assume  the  imposing  form  of  a  serious  constitu 
tional  barrier. 

And  now,  Mr.  President,  1  have  to  make  a  few  observa- 
tions on  a  delicate  subject,  which  I  approach  with  all  the 
respect  that  is  due  to  its  serious  and  grave  nature.  They 


70 


HENKY  CLAY 


have  not,  indeed,  been  rendered  necessary  by  the  speech 
of  the  gentleman  from  South  Carolina,  whose  forbearance 
to  notice  the  topic  was  commendable,  as  his  argument 
throughout  was  characterized  by  an  ability  and  dignity 
worthy  of  him  and  of  the  Senate.  The  gentleman  made 
one  declaration  which  might  possibly  be  misinterpreted, 
and  I  submit  to  him  whether  an  explanation  of  it  be  not 
proper  The  declaration,  as  reported  in  his  printed  speech, 
is;  '  The  instinct  of  self-interest  might  have  taught  us  an 
easier  way  of  relieving  ourselves  from  this  oppression.  It 
wanted  but  the  will  to  have  supplied  ourselves  with  every 
article  embraced  in  the  protective  system,  free  of  duty, 
without  any  other  participation  on  our  part  than  a  simple 
consent  to  receive  them." 

Here  Mr.  Hayne  rose,  and  remarked  that  the  passages 
which  immediately  preceded  and  followed  the  paragraph 
cited,  he  thought,  plainly  indicated  his  meaning,  which 
related  to  evasions  of  the  system  by  illicit  introduction 
of  goods,  which  they  were  not  disposed  to  countenance  in 
South  Carolina. 

1  am  happy  to  hear  this  explanation.  But,  sir,  it  is  im- 
possible to  conceal  from  our  view  the  facts  that  there  is 
great  excitement  in  South  Carolina;  that  the  protective 
system  is  openly  and  violently  denounced  in  popular  meet- 
ings; and  that  the  Legislature  itself  has  declared  its  pur- 
pose of  resorting  to  counteracting  measures — a  suspension  of 
which  has  only  been  submitted  to  for  the  purpose  of  allow- 
ing Congress  time  to  retrace  its  steps.  With  respect  to  this 
Union,  Mr.  President,  the  truth  cannot  be  too  generally 
proclaimed  nor  too  strongly  inculcated,  that  it  is  necessary 
to  the  whole  and  to  all  the  parts — necessary  to  those  parts, 
indeed,  in  different  degrees,  but  vitally  necessary  to  each; 


"THE    AMERICAN  SYSTEM" 


71 


and  that  threats  to  disturb  or  dissolve  it,  coming  from  any 
of  the  parts,  would  be  quite  as  indiscreet  and  improper  as 
would  be  threats  from  the  residue  to  exclude  those  parts 
from  the  pale  of  its  benefits.  The  great  principle  which 
lies  at  the  foundation  of  all  free  government  is  that  the 
majority  must  govern;  from  which  there  is  or  can  be  no 
appeal  but  to  the  sword.  That  majority  ought  to  govern 
wisely,  equitably,  moderately,  and  constitutionally,  but 
govern  it  must,  subject  only  to  that  terrible  appeal.  If 
ever  one,  or  several  States,  being  a  minority,  can,  by  men- 
acing a  dissolution  of  the  Union,  succeed  in  forcing  an 
abandonment  of  great  measures  deemed  essential  to  the  in- 
terests and  prosperity  of  the  whole,  the  Union  from  that 
moment  is  practically  gone.  It  may  linger  on  in  form  and 
name,  but  its  vital  spirit  has  fled  forever!  Entertaining 
these  deliberate  opinions,  I  would  entreat  the  patriotic 
people  of  South  Carolina — the  land  of  Marion,  Sumter, 
and  Pickens — of  Rutledge,  Laurens,  the  Pinckneys,  and 
Lowndes — of  living  and  present  names,  which  1  would 
mention  if  they  were  not  living  or  present — to  pause,  sol- 
emnly pause!  and  contemplate  the  frightful  precipice  which 
lies  directly  before  them.  The  retreat  may  be  painful  and 
mortifying  to  their  gallantry  and  pride,  but  it  is  to  retreat 
to  the  Union,  to  safety,  and  to  those  brethren  with  whom, 
or  with  whose  ancestors,  they,  or  their  ancestors,  have  won 
on  fields  of  glory  imperishable  renown.  To  advance  is  to 
rush  on  certain  and  inevitable  disgrace  and  destruction. 

We  have  been  told  of  deserted  castles,  of  uninhabited 
halls,  and  of  mansions,  once  the  seats  of  opulence  and  hos- 
pitality, now  abandoned  and  moldering  in  ruins.  I  never 
had  the  honor  of  being  in  South  Carolina;  but  I  have  heard 
and  read  of  the  stories  of  its  chivalry,  and  of  its  generous 


72 


HENRY  CLAY 


and  open-hearted  lilDerality.  I  have  heard,  too,  of  the 
struggles  for  power  between  the  lower  and  upper  country. 
The  same  causes  which  existed  in  Virginia,  with  which  I 
have  been  acquainted,  I  presume,  have  had  their  influence 
in  Carolina.  In  whose  hands  now  are  the  once  proud  seats 
of  Westover,  Curies,  Maycocks,  Shirley,  and  others,  on 
James  Eiver,  and  in  lower  Virginia  ?  Under  the  operation 
of  laws  abolishing  the  principle  of  primogeniture,  and  pro- 
viding the  equitable  rule  of  an  equal  distribution  of  estates 
among  those  in  equal  degree  of  consanguinity,  they  have 
passed  into  other  and  stranger  hands.  Some  of  the  de- 
scendants of  illustrious  families  have  gone  to  the  far  "West, 
while  others,  lingering  behind,  have  contrasted  their  present 
condition  with  that  of  their  venerated  ancestors.  They  be- 
hold themselves  excluded  from  their  fathers'  houses,  now 
in  the  hands  of  those  who  were  once  their  fathers'  over- 
seers, or  sinking  into  decay;  their  imaginations  paint 
ancient  renown,  the  fading  honors  of  their  name,  glories 
gone  by;  too  poor  to  live,  too  proud  to  work,  too  high- 
minded  and  honorable  to  resort  to  ignoble  means  of  acqui- 
sition, brave,  daring,  chivalrous,  what  can  be  the  cause  of 
their  present  unhappy  state?  The  "accursed  tariff"  pre- 
sents itself  to  their  excited  imaginations,  and  they  blindly 
rush  into  the  ranks  of  those  who,  unfurling  the  banner  of 
nullification,  would  place  a  State  upon  its  sovereignty! 

The  danger  to  our  Union  does  not  lie  on  the  side  of  per- 
sistence in  the  American  system,  but  on  that  of  its  abandon- 
ment. If,  as  I  have  supposed  and  believe,  the  inhabitants 
of  all  north  and  east  of  the  James  Eiver,  and  all  west  of  the 
mountains,  including  Louisiana,  are  deeply  interested  in 
the  preservation  of  that  system,  would  they  be  reconciled 
to  its  overthrow?    Can  it  be  expected  that  two-thirds,  if 


"  THE   AMERICAN  SYSTEM 


73 


not  three-fourths,  of  the  people  of  the  U  nited  States  would 
consent  to  the  destruction  of  a  policy  believed  to  be  indis- 
pensably necessary  to  their  prosperity?  When,  too,  this 
sacrifice  is  made  at  the  instance  of  a  single  interest  which 
they  verily  believe  will  not  be  promoted  by  it?  In  esti- 
mating the  degree  of  peril  which  may  be  incident  to  two 
opposite  courses  of  human  policy,  the  statesman  would  be 
shortsighted  who  should  content  himself  with  viewing  only 
the  evils,  real  or  imaginary,  which  belong  to  that  course 
which  is  in  practical  operation.  He  should  lift  himself  up 
to  the  contemplation  of  those  greater  and  more  certain 
dangers  which  might  inevitably  attend  the  adoption  of  the 
alternative  course.  What  would  be  the  condition  of  this 
Union,  if  Pennsylvania  and  New  York,  those  mammoth 
members  of  our  Confederacy,  were  firmly  persuaded  that 
their  industry  was  paralyzed  and  their  prosperity  blighted 
by  the  enforcement  of  the  British  colonial  system,  under 
the  delusive  name  of  free  trade?  They  are  now  tranquil 
and  happy  and  contented,  conscious  of  their  welfare,  and 
feeling  a  salutary  and  rapid  circulation  of  the  products  of 
home  manufactures  and  home  industry  throughout  all  their 
great  arteries.  But  let  that  be  checked,  let  them  feel  that 
a  foreign  system  is  to  predominate,  and  the  sources  of  their 
subsistence  and  comfort  dried  up;  let  New  England  and 
the  West  and  the  Middle  States  all  feel  that  they  too  are 
the  victims  of  a  mistaken  policy,  and  let  these  vast  portions 
of  our  country  despair  of  any  favorable  change,  and  then, 
indeed,  might  we  tremble  for  the  continuance  and  safety 
of  this  Union! 


74 


HENRY  CLAY 


FOR  "FREE  TRADE  AND  SEAMEN'S  RIGHTS" 

FROM  A  SPEECH  ON  THE  WAR  OF  1812.   DELIVERED  IN  THE  HOUSE 
OF  REPRESENTATIVES.  JANUARY  8.  1813 

NEXT  to  the  notice  which  the  opposition  has  found 
itself  called  upon  to  bestow  upon  the  French  em- 
peror, a  distinguished  citizen  of  Virginia,  formerly 
President  of  the  United  States,  has  never  for  a  moment 
failed  to  receive  their  kindest  and  most  respectful  atten- 
tion. An  honorable  gentleman  from  Massachusetts,  Mr. 
Quincy,  of  whom,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  it  becomes  necessary 
for  me,  in  the  course  of  my  remarks,  to  take  some  notice, 
has  alluded  to  him  in  a  remarkable  manner.  Neither  his 
retirement  from  public  office,  his  eminent  services,  nor 
his  advanced  age,  can  exempt  this  patriot  from  the  coarse 
assaults  of  party  malevolence.  No,  sir,  in  1801  he  snatched 
from  the  rude  hand  of  usurpation  the  violated  Constitution 
of  his  country,  and  that  is  his  crime.  He  preserved  that  in- 
strument in  form  and  substance  and  spirit,  a  precious  inheri- 
tance for  generations  to  come,  and  for  this  he  can  never  be 
forgiven.  How  vain  and  impotent  is  party  rage  directed 
against  such  a  man  I  He  is  not  more  elevated  by  his  lofty 
residence  upon  the  summit  of  his  own  favorite  mountain 
than  he  is  lifted,  by  the  serenity  of  his  mind  and  the  con- 
sciousness of  a  well-spent  life,  above  the  malignant  pas- 
sions and  bitter  feelings  of  the  day.  No  I  his  own  beloved 
Monticello  is  not  more  moved  by  the  storms  that  beat  against 
its  sides  than  is  this  illustrious  man  by  the  bowlings  of  the 
whole  British  pack  set  loose  from  the  Essex  kennel  I  When 


"FREE  TRADE  AND    SEAMEN's   RIGHTS '* 


75 


the  gentleman  to  whom  I  have  been  compelled  to  allude 
shall  have  mingled  his  dust  with  that  of  his  abused  ances- 
tors; when  he  shaU  have  been  consigned  to  oblivion,  or,  if 
he  lives  at  all,  shall  live  only  in  the  treasonable  annals  of 
a  certain  junto,  the  name  of  Jefferson  will  be  hailed  with 
gratitude,  his  memory  honored  and  cherished  as  the  second 
founder  of  the  liberties  of  the  people,  and  the  period  of  his 
administration  will  be  looi^ed  back  to,  as  one  of  the  happiest 
and  brightest  epochs  of  American  history — an  oasis  in  the 
midst  of  a  sandy  desert.  But  I  beg  the  gentleman's  par- 
don; he  has  indeed  secured  to  himself  a  more  imperishable 
fame  than  I  had  supposed.  I  think  it  was  about  four  years 
ago  that  he  submitted  to  the  House  of  Kepresentatives  an 
initiative  proposition  for  an  impeachment  of  Mr.  Jefferson. 
The  House  condescended  to  consider  it.  The  gentleman 
debated  it  with  his  usual  temper,  moderation,  and  urbanity. 
The  House  decided  upon  it  in  the  most  solemn  manner, 
and,  although  the  gentleman  had  somehow  obtained  a  sec- 
ond, the  final  vote  stood,  one  for,  and  one  hundred  and 
seventeen  against  the  proposition !  The  same  historic  page 
that  transmitted  to  posterity  the  virtue  and  the  glory  of 
Henry  the  Great  of  France,  for  their  admiration  and  ex- 
ample, has  preserved  the  infamous  name  of  the  fanatic  as- 
sassin of  that  excellent  monarch.  The  same  sacred  pen 
that  portrayed  the  sufferings  and  crucifixion  of  the  Saviour 
of  mankind  has  recorded,  for  universal  execration,  the  name 
of  him  who  was  guilty,  not  of  betraying  his  country,  but  (a 
kindred  crime!)  of  betraying  his  Grod. 

In  one  respect  there  is  a  remarkable  difference  between 
the  administration  and  the  opposition ;  it  is  in  a  sacred  re- 
gard for  personal  liberty.  When  out  of  power  my  political 
friends  condemned  the  surrender  of  Jonathan  Bobbins;  they 


76 


HENRY  CLAY 


opposed  the  violation  of  the  freedom  of  the  press  in  the  Sedi- 
tion law;  they  opposed  the  more  insidious  attack  upon  the 
freedom  of  the  person  under  the  imposing  garb  of  an  Alien 
law.  The  party  now  in  opposition,  then  in  power,  advo- 
cated the  sacrifice  of  the  unhappy  Bobbins,  and  passed 
those  two  laws.  True  to  our  principles,  we  are  now  strug- 
gling for  the  liberty  of  our  seamen  against  foreign  oppres- 
sion. True  to  theirs,  they  oppose  a  war  undertaken  for 
this  object.  They  have,  indeed,  lately  affected  a  tender 
solicitude  for  the  liberties  of  the  people,  and  talk  of  the 
danger  of  standing  armies  and  the  burden  of  taxes.  But 
it  must  be  evident  to  you,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  they  speak 
in  a  foreign  idiom.  Their  brogue  evinces  that  it  is  not 
their  vernacular  tongue.  What!  the  opposition,  who,  in 
1798  and  1799  could  raise  a  useless  army  to  fight  an  enemy 
three  thousand  miles  distant  from  us,  alarmed  at  the  exist- 
ence of  one  raised  for  a  known  and  specified  object — the 
attack  of  the  adjoining  provinces  of  the  enemy  I  What! 
the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts,  who  assisted  by  his 
vote  to  raise  the  army  of  twenty-five  thousand,  alarmed 
at  the  danger  of  our  liberties  from  this  very  army!  .  .  . 

I  omitted  yesterday,  sir,  when  speaking  of  a  delicate 
and  painful  subject,  to  notice  a  powerful  engine  which  the 
conspirators  against  the  integrity  of  the  Union  employ  to 
effect  their  nefarious  purposes — I  mean  Southern  influence. 
The  true  friend  to  his  country,  knowing  that  our  Constitu- 
tion was  the  work  of  compromise,  in  which  interests,  appar- 
ently conflicting,  were  attempted  to  be  reconciled,  aims  to 
extinguish  or  allay  prejudices.  But  this  patriotic  exertion 
does  not  suit  the  views  of  those  who  are  urged  on  by  dia- 
bolical ambition.  They  find  it  convenient  to  imagine  the 
existence  of  certain  improper  influences,  and  to  propagate, 


"  FREE  TRADE  AND   SEAMEN's    RIGHTS  '* 


77 


with  their  utmost  industry,  a  belief  of  them.  Hence  the 
idea  of  Southern  preponderance;  Virginia  influence;  the 
yoking  of  the  respectable  yeomanry  of  the  North,  with 
negro  slaves,  to  the  car  of  Southern  nabobs.  If  Virginia 
really  cherishes  a  reprehensible  ambition,  an  aim  to  mo- 
nopolize the  Chief  Magistracy  of  the  country,  how  is  such 
a  purpose  to  be  accomplished?  Virginia,  alone,  cannot 
elect  a  President,  whose  elevation  depends  upon  a  plu- 
rality of  electoral  votes,  and  a  consequent  concurrence  of 
many  States.  Would  Vermont,  disinterested  Pennsylvania, 
the  Carolinas,  independent  Georgia,  Kentucky,  Tennessee, 
Ohio,  Louisiana,  all  consent  to  become  the  tools  of  inordi- 
nate ambition?  But  the  present  incumbent  was  designated 
to  the  of&ce  before  his  predecessor  had  retired.  How  ?  By 
public  sentiment — public  sentiment  which  grew  out  of  his 
known  virtues,  his  illustrious  services,  and  his  distinguished 
abilities.  Would  the  gentleman  crush  this  public  sentiment 
— is  he  prepared  to  admit  that  he  would  arrest  the  progress 
of  opinion? 

The  war  was  declared  because  Great  Britain  arrogated  to 
herself  the  pretension  of  regulating  our  foreign  trade,  under 
the  delusive  name  of  retaliatory  orders  in  council — a  preten- 
sion by  which  she  undertook  to  proclaim  to  American  enter- 
prise— "Thus  far  shalt  thou  go,  and  no  further" — orders 
which  she  refused  to  revoke  after  the  alleged  cause  of  their 
enactment  had  ceased;  because  she  persisted  in  the  practice 
of  impressing  American  seamen ;  because  she  had  instigated 
the  Indians  to  commit  hostilities  against  us;  and  because  she 
refused  indemnity  for  her  past  injuries  upon  our  commerce. 
I  throw  out  of  the  question  other  wrongs.  The  war,  in  fact, 
was  announced,  on  our  part,  to  meet  the  war  which  she  was 
waging  on  her  part.    So  undeniable  were  the  causes  of  the 


78 


HENRY  CLAY 


war,  SO  powerfully  did  they  address  themselves  to  the  feel- 
ings of  the  whole  American  people,  that  when  the  bill  was 
pending  before  this  House,  gentlemen  in  the  opposition,  al- 
though provoked  to  debate,  would  not,  or  could  not,  utter 
one  syllable  against  it.  .  .  . 

We  are  told  by  gentlemen  in  the  opposition  that  govern- 
ment has  not  done  all  that  was  incumbent  on  it  to  do  to 
avoid  just  cause  of  complaint  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain; 
that,  in  particular,  the  certificates  of  protection,  authorized 
by  the  act  of  1796,  are  fraudulently  used.  Sir,  government 
has  done  too  much  in  granting  those  paper  protections.  I 
can  never  think  of  them  without  being  shocked.  They  re- 
semble the  passes  which  the  master  grants  to  his  negro  slave 
— "Let  the  bearer,  Mungo,  pass  and  repass  without  molesta- 
tion.'* What  do  they  imply?  That  Great  Britain  has  a 
right  to  seize  all  who  are  not  provided  with  them.  From 
their  very  nature  they  must  be  liable  to  abuse  on  both  sides. 
If  Great  Britain  desires  a  mark  by  which  she  can  know  her 
own  subjects,  let  her  give  them  an  ear-mark.  The  colors 
that  float  from  the  masthead  should  be  the  credentials  of  our 
seamen.  There  is  no  safety  to  us,  and  the  gentlemen  have 
shown  it,  but  in  the  rule  that  all  who  sail  under  the  flag  (not 
being  enemies)  are  protected  by  the  flag.  It  is  impossible 
that  this  country  should  ever  abandon  the  gallant  tars  who 
have  won  for  us  such  splendid  trophies.  Let  me  suppose 
that  the  genius  of  Columbia  should  visit  one  of  them  in  his 
oppressor's  prison  and  attempt  to  reconcile  him  to  his  for- 
lorn and  wretched  condition.  She  would  say  to  him,  in  the 
language  of  gentlemen  on  the  other  side:  "Great  Britain  in- 
tends you  no  harm ;  she  did  not  mean  to  impress  you,  but 
one  of  her  own  subjects;  having  taken  you  by  mistake,  I 
will  remonstrate,  and  try  to  prevail  upon  her  by  peaceable 


"FREE  TRADE  AND   SEAMEN^'s  RIGHTS** 


79 


means  to  release  you;  but  I  cannot,  my  son,  fight  for  you.*' 
If  he  did  not  consider  this  mere  mockery,  the  poor  tar  would 
address  her  judgment  and  say:  **You  owe  me,  my  country, 
protection ;  I  owe  you  in  return  obedience.  I  am  no  British 
subject,  I  am  a  native  of  old  Massachusetts,  where  live  my 
aged  father,  my  wife,  my  children.  I  have  faithfully  dis- 
charged my  duty.  Will  you  refuse  to  do  yours?"  Ap- 
pealing to  her  passions,  he  would  continue:  "I  lost  this 
eye  in  fighting  under  Truxton  with  the  *Insurgente' ;  I  got 
this  scar  before  Tripoli;  I  broke  this  leg  on  board  the  'Con- 
stitution' when  the  'Guerriere'  struck."  If  she  remained  still 
unmoved,  he  would  break  out  in  the  accents  of  mingled  dis- 
tress and  despair: 

*'Hard,  hard  is  my  fatel  once  I  freedom  enjoyed, 
"Was  as  happy  as  happy  could  be  I 
Oh  I  how  hard  is  my  fate,  how  galling  these  chains  1" 

I  will  not  imagine  the  dreadful  catastrophe  to  which  he 
would  be  driven  by  an  abandonment  of  him  to  his  op- 
pressor. It  will  not  be,  it  cannot  be,  that  his  country 
will  refuse  him  protection.  .  .  . 

An  honorable  peace  is  attainable  only  by  an  efficient 
war.  My  plan  would  be  to  call  out  the  ample  resources 
of  the  country,  give  them  a  judicious  direction,  prosecute 
the  war  with  the  utmost  vigor,  strike  wherever  we  can 
reach  the  enemy,  at  sea  or  on  land,  and  negotiate  the  terms 
of  a  peace  at  Quebec  or  at  Halifax. 

We  are  told  that  England  is  a  proud  and  lofty  nation, 
which,  disdaining  to  wait  for  danger,  meets  it  half  way. 
Haughty  as  she  is,  we  once  triumphed  over  her,  and,  if 
we  do  not  listen  to  the  counsels  of  timidity  and  despair, 
we  shall  again  prevail.  In  such  a  cause,  with  the  aid  of 
Providence,  we  must  come  out  crowned  with  success;  but 


80 


HENRY  CLAY 


if  we  fail,  let  us  fail  like  men,  lash  ourselves  to  our  gal- 
lant tars,  and  expire  together  in  one  common  struggle, 
fighting  for  free  trade  and  seamen's  rights. 


THE  GREEK  REVOLUTION 

HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  JANUARY  20,  1824.  SUPPORTING  THE 
WEBSTER  RESOLUTION 

THEKE  is  reason  to  apprehend  that  a  tremendous  storm 
is  ready  to  burst  upon  our  happy  country — one  which 
may  call  into  action  all  our  vigor,  courage,  and  re- 
sources. Is  it  wise  or  prudent,  in  preparing  to  breast  the 
storm,  if  it  must  come,  to  talk  to  this  nation  of  its  incom- 
petency to  repel  European  aggression,  to  lower  its  spirit, 
to  weaken  its  moral  energy,  and  to  qualify  it  for  easy  con- 
quest and  base  submission  ?  If  there  be  any  reality  in  the 
dangers  which  are  supposed  to  encompass  us,  should  we  not 
animate  the  people,  and  adjure  them  to  believe,  as  I  do,  that 
our  resources  are  ample;  and  that  we  can  bring  into  the  field 
a  million  of  freemen,  ready  to  exhaust  their  last  drop  of 
blood,  and  to  spend  the  last  cent  in  the  defence  of  the 
country,  its  liberty,  and  its  institutions  ?  Sir,  are  these, 
if  united,  to  be  conquered  by  all  Europe  combined?  All 
the  perils  to  which  we  can  possibly  be  exposed  are  much 
less  in  reality  than  the  imagination  is  disposed  to  paint 
them.  And  they  are  best  averted  by  a  habitual  contem- 
plation of  them,  by  reducing  them  to  their  true  dimensions. 
If  combined  Europe  is  to  precipitate  itself  upon  us,  we  can- 
not too  soon  begin  to  invigorate  our  strength,  to  teach  our 
heads  to  think,  our  hearts  to  conceive,  and  our  arms  to 


THE  GREEK  REVOLUTION 


81 


execute,  the  high  and  noble  deeds  which  belong  to  the 
character  and  glory  of  our  country.  The  experience  ot 
the  world  instructs  us  that  conquests  are  already  achieved, 
which  are  boldly  and  firmly  resolved  on,  and  that  men  only 
become  slaves  who  have  ceased  to  resolve  to  be  free.  If  we 
wish  to  cover  ourselves  with  the  best  of  all  armor,  let  us  not 
discourage  our  people,  let  us  stimulate  their  ardor,  let  us  sus- 
tain their  resolution,  let  us  proclaim  to  them  that  we  feel  as 
they  feel,  and  that,  with  them,  we  are  determined  to  live  or 
die  like  freemen. 

Surely,  sir,  we  need  no  long  or  learned  lectures  about 
the  nature  of  government  and  the  influence  of  property  or 
ranks  on  society.  We  may  content  ourselves  with  study- 
ing the  true  character  of  our  own  people  and  with  knowing 
that  the  interests  are  confided  to  us  of  a  nation  capable  of 
doing  and  suffering  all  things  for  its  liberty.  Such  a  na- 
tion, if  its  rulers  be  faithful,  must  be  invincible.  I  well 
remember  an  observation  made  to  me  by  the  most  illus- 
trious female*  of  the  age,  if  not  of  her  sex.  All  history 
showed,  she  said,  that  a  nation  was  never  conquered. 
No,  sir,  no  united  nation  that  resolves  to  be  free  can 
be  conquered.  And  has  it  come  to  this?  Are  we  so 
humbled,  so  low,  so  debased,  that  we  dare  not  express 
our  sympathy  for  suffering  Greece,  that  we  dare  not  ar- 
ticulate our  detestation  of  the  brutal  excesses  of  which 
she  has  been  the  bleeding  victim,  lest  we  might  offend 
some  one  or  more  of  their  imperial  and  royal  majesties? 
If  gentlemen  are  afraid  to  act  rashly  on  such  a  subject, 
suppose,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  we  unite  in  a  humble  peti- 
tion, addressed  to  their  majesties,  beseeching  them  that  of 


Vol.  5-6 


*  Madame  de  Sta^. 


82 


HENRY  CLAY 


their  gracious  coadescension  they  would  allow  us  to  ex- 
press our  feelings  and  our  sympathies.  How  shall  it  run  ? 
*'We,  the  representatives  of  the  free  people  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  humbly  approach  the  thrones  of  your 
imperial  and  royal  majesties,  and  supplicate  that,  of  your 
imperial  and  royal  clemency" — I  cannot  go  through  the 
disgusting  recital — my  lips  have  not  yet  learned  to  pro- 
nounce the  sycophantic  language  of  a  degraded  slave!  Are 
we  so  mean,  so  base,  so  despicable,  that  we  may  not  attempt 
to  express  our  horror — to  utter  our  indignation,  at  the  most 
brutal  and  atrocious  war  that  ever  stained  earth  or  shocked 
high  heaven;  at  the  ferocious  deeds  of  a  savage  and  infuri- 
ated soldiery,  stimulated  and  urged  on  by  the  clergy  of  a 
fanatical  and  inimical  religion,  and  rioting  in  all  the  ex- 
cesses of  blood  and  butchery,  at  the  mere  details  of  which 
the  heart  sickens  and  recoils! 

If  the  great  body  of  Christendom  can  look  on  calmly 
and  coolly,  while  all  this  is  perpetrated  on  a  Christian 
people,  in  its  own  immediate  vicinity,  in  its  very  pres- 
ence, let  us  at  least  evince  that  one  of  its  remote  extremi- 
ties is  susceptible  of  sensibility  to  Christian  wrongs,  and 
capable  of  sympathy  for  Christian  sufferings;  that  in  this 
remote  quarter  of  the  world  there  are  hearts  not  yet  closed 
against  compassion  for  human  woes,  that  can  pour  out  their 
indignant  feelings  at  the  oppression  of  a  people  endeared  to 
us  by  every  ancient  recollection,  and  every  modern  tie.  .  .  . 

But,  sir,  it  is  not  for  Greece  alone  that  I  desire  to  see 
this  measure  adopted.  It  will  give  to  her  but  little  sup- 
port, and  that  purely  of  a  moral  kind.  It  is  principally  for 
America,  for  the  credit  and  character  of  our  common  coun- 
try, for  our  own  unsullied  name,  that  I  hope  to  see  it  pass. 
Mr.  Chairman,  what  appearance  on  the  page  of  history 


THE  GREEK  REVOLUTION 


83 


would  a  record  like  this  exhibit?  **In  the  month  of  Jan- 
uary, in  the  year  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  1824,  while  all 
European  Christendom  beheld,  with  cold  and  unfeeling  in- 
difference, the  unexampled  wrongs  and  inexpressible  misery 
of  Christian  Greece,  a  proposition  was  made  in  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States,  almost  the  sole,  the  last,  the  greatest 
depository  of  human  hope  and  human  freedom,  the  repre- 
sentatives of  a  gallant  nation,  containing  a  million  of  free- 
men ready  to  fly  to  arms,  while  the  people  of  that  nation 
were  spontaneously  expressing  its  deep-toned  feeling,  and 
the  whole  continent,  by  one  simultaneous  emotion,  was  ris- 
ing, and  solemnly  and  anxiously  supplicating  and  invoking 
high  heaven  to  spare  and  succor  Greece,  and  to  invigorate 
her  arms,  in  her  glorious  cause,  while  temples  and  Senate 
Houses  were  alike  resounding  with  one  burst  of  generous 
and  holy  sympathy — in  the  year  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour, 
that  Saviour  of  Greece  and  of  us — a  proposition  was  offered 
in  the  American  Congress  to  send  a  messenger  to  Greece  to 
inquire  into  her  state  and  condition,  with  a  kind  expression 
of  our  good  wishes  and  our  sympathies — and  it  was  re- 
jected!" Go  home,  if  you  can,  go  home,  if  you  dare,  to 
your  constituents,  and  tell  them  that  you  voted  it  down; 
meet,  if  you  can,  the  appalling  countenances  of  those  who 
sent  you  here,  and  tell  them  that  you  shrank  from  the  dec- 
laration of  your  own  sentiments — that  you  cannot  tell  how, 
but  that  some  unknown  dread,  some  indescribable  apprehen- 
sion, some  indefinable  danger,  drove  you  from  your  purpose 
— that  the  spectres  of  cimeters  and  crowns  and  crescents 
gleamed  before  you  and  alarmed  you;  and  that  you  sup- 
pressed all  the  noble  feelings  prompted  by  religion,  by 
liberty,  by  national  independence,  and  by  humanity.  I 
cannot  bring  myself  to  believe  that  such  will  be  the  feel- 


84 


HENRY  CLAY 


ing  of  a  majority  of  the  committee.  But,  for  mvself,  though 
every  friend  of  the  cause  should  desert  it,  and  I  be  left  to 
stand  alone  with  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts,  I  will 
give  to  this  resolution  the  poor  sanction  of  my  unqualified 
approbation. 

ADDRESS  TO  LAFAYETTE 

[Delivered  on  the  occasion  of  the  presentation  of  General  Lafayette  to 
the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States,  December  10,  1824.] 

GENEEAL, —  The  House  of  Eepresentatives  of  the 
United  States,  impelled  alike  by  its  own  feelings 
and  by  those  of  the  whole^American  people,  could 
not  have  assigned  to  me  a  more  gratifying  duty  than  that  of 
presenting  to  you  cordial  congratulations  upon  the  occasion  of 
your  recent  arrival  in  the  United  States,  in  compliance  with 
the  wishes  of  Congress,  and  to  assure  you  of  the  very  high 
satisfaction  which  your  presence  affords  on  this  early  theatre 
of  your  glory  and  renown. 

Although  but  few  of  the  members  who  compose  this  body 
shared  with  you  in  the  war  of  our  Revolution,  all  have,  from 
impartial  history  or  from  faithful  tradition,  a  knowledge  of 
the  perils,  the  sufferings,  and  the  sacrifices  which  you  volun- 
tarily encountered,  and  the  signal  services,  in  America  and  in 
Europe,  which  you  performed  for  an  infant,  a  distant,  and  an 
alien  people;  and  all  feel  and  own  the  very  great  extent  of  the 
obligations  under  which  you  have  placed  our  country. 

But  the  relations  in  which  you  have  ever  stood  to  the  United 
States,  interesting  and  important  as  they  have  been,  do  not 
constitute  the  only  motive  of  the  respect  and  admiration  which 
the  House  of  Representatives  entertain  for  you.  Your  con- 
sistency of  character,  your  uniform  devotion  to  regulated  lib- 
erty, in  all  the  vicissitudes  of  a  long  and  arduous  life,  also  com- 


ADDRESS  TO  LAFAYETTE 


85 


mand  its  admiration.  During  all  the  recent  convulsions  of 
Europe,  amid,  as  after  the  dispersion  of,  every  political  storm, 
the  people  of  the  United  States  have  beheld  you,  true  to  your 
old  principles,  firm  and  erect,  cheering  and  animating  with 
your  well-known  voice  the  votaries  of  liberty,  its  faithful  and 
fearless  champion,  ready  to  shed  the  last  drop  of  that  blood 
which  here  you  so  freely  and  nobly  spilled  in  the  same  holy 
cause. 

The  vain  wish  has  been  sometimes  indulged  that  Provi- 
dence would  allow  the  patriot,  after  death,  to  return  to  his 
country,  and  to  contemplate  the  intermediate  changes  which 
had  taken  place ;  to  view  the  forests  felled,  the  cities  built,  the 
mountains  levelled,  the  canals  cut,  the  highways  constructed, 
the  progress  of  the  arts,  the  advancement  of  learning,  and  the 
increase  of  population. 

General,  your  present  visit  to  the  United  States  is  a  realiza- 
tion of  the  consoling  object  of  that  wish.  You  are  in  the 
midst  of  posterity.  Everywhere  you  must  have  been  struck 
with  the  great  changes,  physical  and  moral,  which  have 
occurred  since  you  left  us.  Even  this  very  city,  bearing  a 
venerated  name  alike  endeared  to  you  and  to  us,  has  since 
emerged  from  the  forest  which  then  covered  its  site.  In 
one  respect  you  behold  us  unaltered,  and  this  is  in  the  senti- 
ment of  continued  devotion  to  liberty  and  of  ardent  affection 
and  profound  gratitude  to  your  departed  friend,  the  father  of 
his  country,  and  to  you,  and  to  your  illustrious  associates  in 
the  field  and  in  the  cabinet  for  the  multiplied  blessings  which 
surround  us,  and  for  the  very  privilege  of  addressing  you 
which  I  now  exercise.  This  sentiment,  now  fondly  cherished 
by  more  than  ten  millions  of  people,  will  be  transmitted,  with 
unabated  vigor,  dovm  the  tide  of  time,  through  the  countless 
millions  who  are  destined  to  inhabit  this  continent,  to  the 
latest  posterity. 


86 


HBNEY  CLAY 


REPLY  TO  JOHN  RANDOLPH 


MADE  IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  IN  1824 

m, —  I  am  growing  old.    I  have  had  some  little  measure 


of  experience  in  public  life,  and  the  result  of  that 


experience  has  brought  me  to  this  conclusion,  that 
when  business,  of  whatever  nature,  is  to  be  transacted  in  a 
deliberative  assembly  or  in  private  life,  courtesy,  forbearance, 
and  moderation  are  best  calculated  to  bring  it  to  a  successful 
conclusion.  Sir,  my  age  admonishes  me  to  abstain  from 
involving  myself  in  personal  difficulties;  would  to  God  that 
I  could  say  I  am  also  restrained  by  higher  motives.  I  cer- 
tainly never  sought  any  collision  with  the  gentleman  from 
Virginia.  My  situation  at  this  time  is  peculiar,  if  it  be  noth- 
ing else,  and  might,  I  should  think,  dissuade,  at  least,  a  gener- 
ous heart  from  any  wish  to  draw  me  into  circumstances  of 
personal  altercation.  I  have  experienced  this  magnanimity 
from  some  quarters  of  the  House. 

But  I  regret  that  from  others  it  appears  to  have  no  such 
consideration.  The  gentleman  from  Virginia  was  pleased  to 
say  that  in  one  point  at  least  he  coincided  with  me  —  in  an 
humble  estimate  of  my  grammatical  and  philological  acquire- 
ments. I  know  my  deficiencies.  I  was  bom  to  no  proud  pat- 
rimonial estate;  from  my  father  I  inherited  only  infancy, 
ignorance,  and  indigence.  I  feel  my  defects;  but  so  far  as  my 
situation  in  early  life  is  concerned  I  may  without  presump- 
tion  say  they  are  more  my  misfortune  than  my  fault  But, 
however  I  regret  my  want  of  ability  to  furnish  to  the  gentle- 
man a  better  specimen  of  powers  of  verbal  criticism,  I  will 
venture  to  say  it  is  not  greater  than  the  disappointment  of  this 
committee  as  to  the  strength  of  his  argument. 


HENRY  LORD  BROUGHAM 


ENRY  Brougham,  Baron  Brougham  and  Vaux,  English  statesman, 
orator,  and  lord  chancellor,  was  born  at  Edinburgh,  Sept.  19,  1778,  and 
died  at  Cannes,  France,  May  7,  1868.  Educated  at  the  Edinburgh  High 
School,  and  at  the  University  of  the  Scottish  capital,  where  he  distin- 
guished himself  as  a  classical  scholar,  mathematician,  and  student  of  the  natural 
sciences,  he  studied  law,  and  was  admitted  to  the  Scottish  and  later  on  to  the 
English  Bar.  Prior  to  removing  to  London,  he  took  part  with  Lord  Jeffrey  and. 
Sydney  Smith  in  founding  the  "Edinburgh  Review,"  to  which,  on  a  wide  range  of 
topics,  he  contributed,  after  which,  in  the  English  capital,  he  gained  considerable 
legal  practice,  and  established  a  reputation  in  science  which  earned  him  member- 
ship in  the  Royal  Society.  In  1810,  he  entered  Parliament  and  attracted  attention 
as  a  member  of  the  Liberal  opposition,  an  orator  of  ability  and  energy,  and  a  re- 
former in  matters  political,  social,  and  educational,  as  well  as  a  valiant  opponent 
of  the  Slave  trade.  Just  before  this,  he  had  spoken  eloquently  in  the  interest  of 
commerce,  against  the  Orders  in  Council,  which  provoked  war  with  this  country  in 
1812-14,  and  at  Liverpool,  in  October,  1812,  he  spoke  eloquently  against  Pitt  and 
the  war,  in  the  interest  of  liberty  and  peace.  His  able  and  successful  defence  with 
Denham,  in  1820,  of  Queen  Caroline,  the  injured  consort  of  George  IV,  for  alleged 
indecorous  conduct,  gained  him  popular  applause,  though  it  barred  him  from  prefer- 
ment by  the  Crown,  until  the  death  of  the  King,  when  he  was  appointed  by  the 
new  Whig  government  Lord  Chancellor,  and  took  his  seat  on  the  woolsack  as  Baron 
Brougham.  In  this  post  he  distinguished  himself  as  the  pioneer  of  law  reform,  and 
in  the  House  of  Peers  he  aided  greatly  in  passing  the  Reform  Bill,  which  became 
an  Act  in  1832.  Outside  of  Parliament,  he  also  took  a  hearty  interest  in  educa- 
tional advancement,  aided  in  founding  the  non-sectarian  University  of  London,  and 
gave  a  great  impetus  to  the  publishing  enterprises  of  the  newly  created  Society  for 
the  Diffusion  of  Useful  Knowledge  and  to  the  movement  for  establishing  Mechanics' 
Institutes.  Toward  the  close  of  his  long  life,  he  was  much  gratified  by  the  honors 
paid  him,  in  the  lord  rectorship  of  Glasgow  University  and  the  chancellorship  of 
that  at  Edinburgh.  His  late  appearances  in  the  House  of  Lords,  in  his  declining 
days,  did  not  add  to  his  fame.  He  died  in  his  ninetieth  year.  It  was  by  his 
speeches  that  Brougham's  influence  was  most  felt  by  his  own  "generation,  and 
upon  them  has  been  built  his  great  reputation.  Although  there  is,  unhappily, 
something  evanescent,  writes  a  contemporary,  in  those  great  efforts  of  the  human 
tongue  which  so  often  roused  and  ruled  the  passions  and  the  intellect  of  the 

(87) 


88 


HENRY  LORD  BROUGHAM 


senate  and  the  nation,  "their  results  belong  to  history,  and  Lord  Brougham 
will  leave  no  monument  behind  him  more  worthy  to  be  held  in  lasting  re- 
membrance than  his  orations.  He  labored  to  become  a  master  in  his  art,  and 
we  see  in  the  arrangement  of  his  topics,  the  structure  of  his  periods,  and  the 
choice  of  his  language,  the  skill,  and,  in  its  proper  sense,  the  artifice  of  the 
consummate  rhetorician." 


SPEECH  ON  NEGRO  EMANCIPATION 

DELIVERED  IN  THE. HOUSE  OF  LORDS.  FEBRUARY  20,  1838 

I DO  NOT  think,  my  lords,  that  ever  but  once  before  in  the 
whole  course  of  my  public  life  have  I  risen  to  address 
either  House  of  Parliament  v^ith  the  anxiety  under 
which  I  labor  at  this  moment.  The  occasion  to  which  alone  I 
can  liken  the  present  was  when  I  stood  up  in  the  Commons  to 
expose  the  treatment  of  that  persecuted  missionary  whose  case 
gave  birth  to  the  memorable  debate  upon  the  condition  of  our 
negro  brethern  in  the  colonies  —  a  debate  happily  so  fruitful 
of  results  to  the  whole  of  this  great  cause. 

But  there  is  this  difference  between  the  two  occasions  to 
sustain  my  spirits  now,  that  whereas  at  the  former  period  the 
horizon  was  all  wrapped  in  gloom  through  which  not  a  ray  of 
light  pierced  to  cheer  us  we  have  now  emerged  into  a  com- 
paratively bright  atmosphere  and  are  pursuing  our  journey 
full  of  hope.  For  this  we  have  mainly  to  thank  that  import- 
ant discussion  and  those  eminent  men  who  bore  in  it  so  con- 
spicuous a  part.  And  now  I  feel  a  greater  gratification  in 
being  the  means  of  enabling  your  lordships,  by  sharing  in  this 
great  and  glorious  work,  nay,  by  leading  the  way  towards  its 
final  accomplishment,  to  increase  the  esteem  in  which  you  are 
held  by  your  fellow  citizens;  or  if,  by  any  differences  of  opin- 
ion on  recent  measures,  you  may  unhappily  have  lost  any  por- 


ON  NEGRO  EMANCIPATION 


89 


tion  of  the  public  favor,  I  know  of  no  path  more  short,  more 
sure,  or  more  smooth,  by  which  you  may  regain  it.  But  I  will 
not  rest  my  right  to  your  co-operation  upon  any  such  grounds 
as  these.  I  claim  your  help  by  a  higher  title.  I  rely  upon 
the  justice  of  my  cause  —  I  rely  upon  the  power  of  your 
consciences  —  I  rely  upon  your  duty  to  God  and  to  man  — 
I  rely  upon  your  consistency  with  yourselves  —  and,  appeal- 
ing to  your  own  measure  of  1833,  if  you  be  the  same  men 
in  1838,  I  call  upon  you  to  finish  your  own  work  and  give  at 
length  a  full  effect  to  the  wise  and  Christian  principles  which 
then  guided  your  steps. 

I  rush  at  once  into  the  midst  of  this  great  argument  —  I 
drag  before  you  once  more,  but  I  trust  for  the  last  time,  the 
African  slave  trade,  which  I  lately  denounced  here,  and  have 
so  often  elsewhere.  On  this  we  are  all  agreed.  Whatever 
difference  of  opinion  may  exist  on  the  question  of  slavery,  on 
the  slave  traffic  there  can  be  none.  I  am  now  furnished  with 
a  precedent  which  may  serve  for  an  example  to  guide  us.  On 
slavery  we  have  always  held  that  the  colonial  legislature 
could  not  be  trusted ;  that,  to  use  Mr.  Canning's  expression,  you 
must  beware  of  allowing  the  masters  of  slaves  to  make  laws 
upon  slavery.  But  upon  the  detestable'  traffic  in  slaves  I  can 
show  you  the  proceeding  of  a  colonial  assembly  which  we 
should  ourselves  do  well  to  adopt  after  their  example.  These 
masters  of  slaves,  not  to  be  trusted  on  that  subject,  have  acted 
well  and  wisely  on  this.  The  legislature  of  J amaica,  owners 
of  slaves,  and  representing  all  other  slave-owners,  feel  that 
they  also  represent  the  poor  negroes  themselves;  and  they 
approach  the  throne,  expressing  themselves  thankful  —  tar- 
dily thankful,  no  doubt  —  that  the  traffic  has  been  for  thirty 
years  put  down  in  our  own  colonies,  and  beseeching  the  sov- 
ereign to  consummate  the  great  work  by  the  only  effectual 


90 


LORt)  BROUGHAM 


means  —  of  having  it  declared  piracy  by  the  law  of  nations, 
as  it  is  robbery  and  piracy  and  murder  by  the  law  of  God! 
This  address  is  precisely  that  which  I  desire  your  lordships 
to  present  to  the  same  gracious  sovereign.  ... 

I  well  remember  how  uneasy  all  were  looking  forward  to 
the  1st  of  August,  1834,  when  the  state  of  slavery  was  to 
cease,  and  I  myself  shared  in  those  feelings  of  alarm  when 
I  contemplated  the  possible  event  of  the  vast  but  yet  untried 
experiment.  My  fears  proceeded  first  from  the  character  of 
the  masters.  I  knew  the  nature  of  man,  fond  of  power,  jeal- 
ous of  any  interference  with  its  exercise,  uneasy  at  its  being 
questioned,  offended  at  its  being  regulated  and  constrained, 
averse,  above  all,  to  have  it  wrested  from  its  hands,  especially 
after  it  has  been  long  enjoyed  and  its  possession  can  hardly 
be  severed  from  his  nature. 

But  I  also  was  aware  of  another  and  a  worse  part  of  human 
nature.  I  knew  that  whoso  has  abused  power  clings  to 
it  with  a  yet  more  convulsive  grasp.  I  dreaded  the  nature  of 
man,  prone  to  hate  whom  he  has  injured;  because  I  knew  that 
law  of  human  weakness  which  makes  the  oppressor  hate  his 
victim,  makes  him  who  has  injured  never  forgive,  fills  the 
wrongdoer  with  vengeance  against  those  whose  right  it  is  to 
indicate  those  injuries  on  his  own  head. 

I  knew  that  this  abominable  law  of  our  evil  nature  was 
not  confined  to  different  races,  contrasted  hues,  and  strange 
features,  but  prevailed  also  between  white  man  and*  white  — 
for  I  never  yet  knew  any  one  hate  me  but  those  whom  I  had 
served,  and  those  who  had  done  me  some  grievous  injustice. 
Why  then  should  I  expect  other  feelings  to  burn  within  the 
planter's  bosom,  and  govern  his  conduct  towards  the  unhappy 
beings  who  had  suffered  so  much  and  so  long  at  his  hands? 
But,  on  the  part  of  the  slaves,  I  was  not  without  some  anxiety 


ON  NEGRO  EMANCIPATION 


91 


when  I  considered  the  corrupting  effects  of  that  degrading 
system  under  which  they  had  for  ages  groaned,  and  recognized 
the  truth  of  the  saying  in  the  first  and  the  earliest  of  profane 
poets,  that  "  the  day  which  makes  a  man  a  slave  robs  him  of 
half  his  value." 

I  might  well  think  that  the  West  Indian  slave  offered  no 
exception  to  this  maxim,  that  the  habit  of  compulsory  labor 
might  have  incapacitated  him  from  voluntary  exertion;  that 
overmuch  toil  might  have  made  all  work  his  aversion;  that 
never  having  been  accustomed  to  provide  for  his  own  wants, 
while  all  his  supplies  were  furnished  by  others,  he  might  prove 
unwilling  or  unfit  to  work  for  himself,  the  ordinary  induce- 
ments to  industry  never  having  operated  on  his  mind. 

In  a  word,  it  seemed  unlikely  that  long  disuse  of  freedom 
might  have  rendered  him  too  familiar  with  his  chains  to  set 
a  right  value  on  liberty,  or  that,  if  he  panted  to  be  free,  the 
sudden  transition  from  the  one  state  to  the  other,  the  instanta- 
neous enjoyment  of  the  object  of  his  desires,  might  prove  too 
strong  for  his  uncultured  understanding;  might  overset  his 
principles,  and  render  him  dangerous  to  the  public  peace. 
Hence  it  was  that  I  entertained  some  apprehensions  of  the 
event,  and  yielded  reluctantly  to  the  plan  proposed  of  prepar- 
ing the  negroes  for  the  enjoyment  of  perfect  freedom  by  pass- 
ing them  through  the  intermediate  state  of  indentured 
apprenticeship. 

Let  us  now  see  the  results  of  their  sudden  though  partial 
liberation,  and  how  far  those  fears  have  been  realized;  for 
upon  this  must  entirely  depend  the  solution  of  the  present 
question  —  whether  or  not  it  is  safe  now  to  complete  the 
emancipation,  which,  if  it  only  be  safe,  we  have  not  the 
shadow  of  right  any  longer  to  withhold. 

Well,  then,  let  us  see.    The  first  of  August  came,  the  object 


92 


LORD  BROUGHAM 


of  SO  much  anxiety  and  so  many  predictions  —  that  day  so 
joyously  expected  by  the  poor  slaves,  as  sorely  dreaded  by  their 
hard  taskmasters;  and  surely,  if  there  ever  was  a  picture  inter- 
esting, even  fascinating,  to  look  upon,  if  there  ever  was  a  pass- 
age in  a  people's  history  that  redounded  to  their  eternal 
honor,  if  ever  triumphant  answer  was  given  to  all  the  scandal- 
ous calumnies  for  ages  heaped  upon  an  oppressed  race,  as  if 
to  justify  the  wrongs  done  them,  that  picture,  and  that  pass- 
age, and  that  answer  were  exhibited  in  the  unifomi  history 
of  that  auspicious  day  all  over  the  islands  of  the  Western 
Sea.  Instead  of  the  horizon  being  lit  up  with  the  lurid  fires 
of  rebellion,  kindled  by  a  sense  of  natural  though  lawless 
revenge,  and  the  just  resistance  to  intolerable  oppression,  the 
whole  of  that  widespread  scene  was  mildly  illuminated  with 
joy,  contentment,  peace,  and  good  will  towards  men. 

No  civilized  nation,  no  people  of  the  most  refined  character, 
could  have  displayed,  after  gaining  a  sudden  and  signal  vic- 
tory, more  forbearance,  more  delicacy,  in  the  enjoyment  of 
their  triumph,  than  these  poor  untutored  slaves  did  upon  the 
great  consummation  of  all  their  wishes  which  they  had  just 
attained.  'Not  a  gesture  or  a  look  was  seen  to  scare  the  eye ; 
not  a  sound  or  a  breath  from  the  negro's  lips  was  heard  to 
grate  on  the  ear  of  the  planter.  All  was  joy,  congratulation, 
and  hope.  Everywhere  were  to  be  seen  groups  of  these  harm- 
less folks  assembled  to  talk  over  their  good  fortunes,  to  com- 
municate their  mutual  feelings  of  happiness,  to  speculate  on 
their  future  prospects.  Finding  that  they  were  now  free  in 
name,  they  hoped  soon  to  taste  the  reality  of  liberty.  Feel- 
ing their  fetters  loosened,  they  looked  forward  to  the  day 
which  would  see  them  fall  off,  and  the  degrading  marks  which 
they  left  be  effaced  from  their  limbs. 

But  all  this  was  accompanied  with  not  a  whisper  that  could 


ON  NEGRO  EMANCIPATION 


93 


give  offence  to  the  master  by  reminding  him  of  the  change. 
This  delicate,  calm,  tranquil  joy  was  alone  to  be  marked  on 
that  day  over  all  the  chain  of  the  Antilles.  Amusements  there 
were  none  to  be  seen  on  that  day  —  not  even  their  simple 
pastimes  by  which  they  had  been  wont  to  beguile  the  hard 
hours  of  bondage,  and  which  reminded  that  innocent  people 
of  the  happy  land  of  their  forefathers,  whence  they  had  been 
torn  by  the  hands  of  Christian  and  civilized  men.  The  day 
was  kept  sacred  as  the  festival  of  their  liberation,  for  the 
negroes  are  an  eminently  pious  race.  Every  church  was 
crowded  from  early  dawn  with  devout  and  earnest  worshippers. 
Five  or  six  times  in  the  course  of  that  memorable  Friday  were 
all  those  churches  filled  and  emptied  in  succession  by  multi- 
tudes who  came,  not  to  give  mouth-worship  or  eye-worship, 
but  to  render  hi^mble  and  hearty  thanks  to  God  for  their 
freedom  at  length  bestowed.  In  countries  where  the  bounty 
of  nature  provokes  the  passions,  where  the  fuel  of  intemper- 
ance is  scattered  with  a  profuse  hand,  I  speak  the  fact  when 
I  tell  that  not  one  negro  was  seen  in  a  state  of  intoxication. 
Three  hundred  and  forty  thousand  slaves  in  Jamaica  were  at 
once  set  free  on  that  day,  and  the  peaceful  festivity  of  those 
simple  men  was  disturbed  only  on  a  single  estate,  in  one  par- 
ish, by  the  irregular  conduct  of  three  or  four  persons,  who 
were  immediately  kept  in  order,  and  tranquillity  was  in  one 
hour  restored. 

But  the  termination  of  slavery  was  to  be  an  end  of  all 
labor;  no  man  would  work  unless  compelled;  much  less  would 
any  one  work  for  hire.  The  cart-whip  was  to  resound  no 
more,  and  no  more  could  exertion  be  obtained  from  the  indo- 
lent African. 

I  set  the  past  against  these  predictions.  I  have  never  been 
in  the  West  Indies;  I  was  one  of  those  whom,  under  the  name 


94 


LORD  BROUGHAM 


of  reasoners,  and  theorists,  and  visionaries,  all  planters  pitied 
for  incurable  ignorance  on  colonial  affairs;  one  of  those  who 
were  forbidden  to  meddle  with  matters  of  which  they  could 
only  judge  who  had  the  practical  knowledge  of  experienced 
men  on  the  spot  obtained. 

Therefore  I  now  appeal  to  the  fact, — and  I  also  appeal  to 
one  who  has  been  to  the  West  Indies,  is  himself  a  planter,  and 
was  an  eye-witness  of  the  things  upon  which  I  call  for  his 
confirmatory  testimony.  It  is  to  my  noble  friend  [Lord  Sligo] 
that  I  appeal.  He  knows,  for  he  saw,  that  ever  since  slavery 
ceased  there  has  been  no  want  of  inclination  to  work  in  any 
part  of  Jamaica,  and  that  labor  for  hire  is  now  to  be  had  with- 
out the  least  difficulty  by  all  who  can  afford  to  pay  wages, 
the  apprentices  cheerfully  working  for  those  who  will  pay 
them  during  the  hours  not  appropriated  to  their  masters. 

My  noble  friend  made  an  inquisition  as  to  the  state  of  this 
important  matter  in  a  large  part  of  his  government;  and  I 
have  his  authority  for  stating  that  in  nine  estates  out  of  ten 
laborers  for  hire  were  to  be  had  without  the  least  difficulty. 

Yet  this  was  the  people  of  whom  we  were  told,  with  a  con- 
fidence that  set  all  contradiction  at  defiance,  with  an  insulting 
pity  for  the  ignorance  of  us  who  had  no  local  experience, 
that  without  the  lash  there  could  be  no  work  done,  and  that, 
Vhen  it  ceased  to  vex  him,  the  African  would  sink  into  sleep. 
The  prediction  is  found  to  have  been  ridiculously  false;  the 
negro  peasantry  is  a&  industrious  as  our  own,  and  wages  fur- 
nish more  effectual  stimulus  than  the  scourge. 

Oh,  but,  said  the  men  of  colonial  experience  —  the  true 
practical  men  —  this  may  do  for  some  kinds  of  produce.  Cot- 
ton may  be  planted,  coffee  may  be  picked,  indigo  may  be 
manufactured, — all  these  kinds  of  work  the  negro  may  prob- 
ably be  got  to  do  ;  but  at  least  the  cane  mil  ceasi©  to  grow, 


ON  NEGRO  EMANCIPATION 


95 


the  cane-piece  can  no  longer  be  hoed,  nor  the  plant  be  hewn 
down,  nor  the  juice  boiled,  and  sugar  will  utterly  cease  out  of 
the  land. 

Now  let  the  man  of  experience  stand  forward, — the  practi- 
cal man,  the  inhabitant  of  the  colonies, — I  require  that  he 
now  come  forth  with  his  prediction,  and  I  meet  him  with  the 
fact;  let  him  but  appear,  and  I  answer  for  him,  we  shall  hear 
him  prophesy  no  more.  Put  to  silence  by  the  past,  which 
even  these  confident  men  have  not  the  courage  to  deny,  they 
will  at  length  abandon  this  untenable  ground. 

Twice  as  much  sugar  by  the  hour  was  found,  on  my  noble 
friend's  inquiry,  to  be  made  since  the  apprenticeship,  as  under 
the  slave  system,  and  of  a  far  better  quality;  and  one  planter 
on  a  vast  scale  has  said  that  with  twenty  free  laborers  he  could 
do  the  work  of  a  hundred  slaves. 

But  linger  not  on  the  islands  where  the  gift  of  freedom 
has  been  but  half  bestowed.  Look  at  Antigua  and  Bermuda, 
where  the  wisdom  and  the  virtue  have  been  displayed  of  at 
once  giving  complete  emancipation.  To  Montserrat  the  same 
appeal  might  have  been  made,  but  for  the  folly  of  the  upper 
House,  which  threw  out  the  bill  passed  in  the  Assembly  by  the 
representatives  of  the  planters.  But  in  Antigua  and  in  Ber- 
muda, where  for  the  last  three  years  and  a  half  there  has  not 
even  been  an  apprentice  —  where  all  have  been  at  once  made 
as  free  as  the  peasantry  of  this  country  —  the  produce  has 
increased,  not  diminished,  and  increased  notwithstanding  the 
accidents  of  bad  seasons,  droughts,  and  fires. 

My  lords,  I  have  proved  my  case,  and  may  now  call  for 
judgment.  I  have  demonstrated  every  part  of  the  proposition, 
which  alone  it  is  necessary  that  I  should  maintain,  to  prove  the 
title  of  the  apprentice  to  instant  freedom  from  his  taskmas- 
ters, because  I  have  demonstrated  that  the  liberation  of  the 


96 


LORD  BROUGHAM 


slave  has  been  absolutely,  universally  safe  —  attended  with 
not  even  inconvenience  —  nay,  productive  of  ample  benefits 
to  his  master.  I  have  shown  that  the  apprentice  wDrks  with- 
out compulsion,  and  that  the  reward  of  wages  are  a  better 
incentive  than  the  punishment  of  the  lash.  I  have  proved 
that  labor  for  hire  may  anywhere  be  obtained  as  it  is  wanted, 
and  can  be  purchased.  All  the  apprentices  working  extra 
hours  for  hire,  and  all  the  free  negroes,  wherever  their  emanci- 
pation has  been  complete,  worked  harder  by  much  for  the 
masters  who  have  wherewithal  to  pay  them,  than  the  slave  can 
toil  for  his  owner,  or  the  apprentice  for  his  master 

Whether  we  look  to  the  noble-minded  colonies  which  have 
at  once  freed  their  slaves,  or  to  those  who  still  retain  them  in 
a  middle  and  half -free  condition,  I  have  shown  that  the  indus- 
try of  the  negro  is  undeniable,  and  that  it  is  constant  and 
productive  in  proportion  as  he  is  the  director  of  its  application 
and  the  master  of  its  recompense.  But  I  have  gone  a  great 
deal  further — I  have  demonstrated,  by  a  reference  to  the 
same  experience,  the  same  unquestioned  facts,  that  a  more 
quiet,  peaceful,  inoffensive,  innocent  race  is  not  to  be  found 
on  the  face  of  this  earth  than  the  Africans,  not  while  dwell- 
ing in  their  own  happy  country,  and  enjoying  freedom  in  a 
natural  state  under  their  own  palm-trees  and  by  their  native 
streams,  but  after  they  have  been  torn  away  from  it, 
enslaved,  and  their  nature  perverted  in  your  Christian  land, 
barbarized  by  the  policy  of  civilized  states;  their  whole  char- 
acter disfigured,  if  it  were  possible  to  disfigure  it;  all  their 
feelings  corrupted,  if  you  could  have  corrupted  them.  Every 
effort  has  been  made  to  spoil  the  poor  African,  every  source 
of  wicked  ingenuity  exhausted  to  deprave  his  nature,  all  the 
incentives  of  misconduct  placed  around  him  by  the  fiend-like 
artifice  of  Christian  civiKzed  men,  and  his  excellent  nature 


ON  NEGRO  EMANCIPATION 


97 


has  triumphed  over  all  your  arts;  your  unnatural  culture  has 
failed  to  make  it  bear  the  poisonous  fruit  that  might  well  have 
been  expected  from  such  abominable  husbandry,  though 
enslaved  and  tormented,  degraded  and  debased,  as  far  as 
human  industry  could  effect  its  purpose  of  making  him  blood- 
thirsty and  savage,  his  gentle  spirit  has  prevailed  and  pre- 
served, in  spite  of  all  your  prophecies,  aye,  and  of  all  your 
efforts,  unbroken  tranquillity  over  the  whole  Caribbean 
chain ! 

Have  I  not  proved  my  case?  I  show  you  that  the  whole 
grounds  of  the  arrangement  of  1833,  the  very  pretext  for 
withholding  complete  emancipation  —  alleged  incapacity  for 
labor  and  risk  of  insurrection  —  utterly  fail.  I  rely  on  your 
own  records ;  I  refer  to  that  record  which  cannot  be  averred 
against.  I  plead  the  record  of  your  own  statute.  Qn  what 
ground  does  its  preamble  rest  the  necessity  of  the  intermediate 
or  apprentice  state,  all  admitting  that  nothing  but  necessity 
would  justify  it?  — 

Whereas,  it  is  expedient  that  provision  should  be  made, 
promoting  the  industry  and  securing  the  good  conduct  of  the 
manumitted  slaves." 

Those  are  the  avowed  reasons  for  the  measure,  those  its  only 
defence.  All  men  confessed  that  were  it  not  for  the  apprehen- 
sion of  liberated  slaves  not  working  voluntarily,  and  not 
behaving  peaceably,  of  slavery  being  found  to  have  unfitted 
them  for  industry,  and  of  a  sudden  transition  to  perfect  free- 
dom being  fraught  with  danger  to  the  peace  of  society,  you 
had  no  right  to  make  them  indentured  apprentices  and  must 
at  once  get  them  wholly  free.  But  the  fear  prevailed,  which 
by  the  event  I  have  now  a  right  to  call  a  delusion,  and  the 
apprenticeship  was  reluctantly  agreed  to. 

The  delusion  went  further.    The  planter  succeeded  in  per- 

Vol.  5-7 


98 


LORD  BROUGHAM 


suading  its  that  he  would  be  a  vast  loser  by  the  change,  and 
we  gave  him  twenty  millions  sterling  money  to  indemnify 
him  for  the  supposed  loss.  The  fear  is  found  to  be  utterly 
baseless,  the  loss  is  a  phantom  of  the  brain,  a  shape  conjured 
up  by  the  interested  parties  to  frighten  our  weak  minds,  and 
the  only  reality  in  this  mockery  is  the  payment  of  that  enor- 
mous sum  to  the  crafty  and  fortunate  magician  for  his  incan- 
tations The  spell  is  dissolved,  the  charm  is  over,  the 
unsubstantial  fabric  of  calculating  alarm,  reared  by  the 
colonial  body  with  our  help,  has  been  crushed  to  atoms,  and 
its  fragments  scattered  to  the  world. 

And  now,  I  ask,  suppose  it  had  been  ascertained  in  1833, 
when  you  make  the  apprenticeship  law,  that  those  alarms 
were  absolutely  groundless,  the  mere  phantom  of  a  sick  brain, 
or  contrivance  of  a  sordid  ingenuity,  would  a  single  voice  have 
been  raised  in  favor  of  the  intermediate  state?  Would  the 
words  indentured  apprenticeship  ever  have  been  pro- 
nounced ?  Would  the  man  have  been  found  endued  with  the 
courage  to  call  for  keeping  the  negro  in  chains  one  hour  after 
he  had  been  acknowledged  entitled  to  his  freedom? 

My  lords,  I  cannot  better  prove  the  absolute  necessity  of 
putting  an  immediate  end  to  the  state  of  apprenticeship  than 
by  showing  what  the  victims  of  it  are  daily  fated  to  endure. 
The  punishments  inflicted  are  of  monstrous  severity.  The 
law  is  wickedly  harsh;  its  execution  is  committed  to  hands 
that  exasperate  that  cruelty.  For  the  vague,  undefined, 
undefinable  offence  of  insolence,  thirty-nine  lashes;  the  same 
number  for  carrying  a  knife  in  the  pocket;  for  cutting  the 
shoot  of  a  cane-plant,  fifty  lashes,  or  three  months'  imprison- 
ment in  that  most  loathsome  of  all  dungeons,  a  West  Indian 
jail. 

There  seems  to  have  prevailed  at  all  times  among  the 


ON  NEGRO  EMANCIPATION 


99 


lawgivers  of  the  slave  colonies  a  feeling  of  which  I  grieve 
to  say  those  of  the  mother  country  have  partaken;  that  there 
is  something  in  the  nature  of  a  slave,  something  in  the  dis- 
position of  the  African  race,  something  in  the  habits  of  those 
hapless  victims  of  our  crimes,  our  cruelties,  and  frauds, 
which  requires  a  peculiar  harshness  of  treatment  from  their 
rulers,  and  makes  what  in  other  men's  cases  we  call  justice 
and  mercy  cruelty  to  society,  and  injustice  to  the  law  in 
theirs,  inducing  us  to  visit  with  the  extremity  of  rigor  in  the 
African  what,  if  done  by  our  own  tribes,  would  be  slightly 
visited,  or  not  at  all,  as  though  there  were  in  the  negro  nature 
something  so  obdurate  that  no  punishment  with  which  they 
can  be  punished  would  be  too  severe. 

Prodigious,  portentous  injustice!  As  if  we  had  a  right  to 
blame  any  but  ourselves  for  Avhatever  there  may  be  of  harsh 
or  cunning  in  our  slaves;  as  if  we  were  entitled  to  visit  upon 
him  that  disposition,  were  it  obdurate  —  those  habits,  were 
they  insubordinate  —  those  propensities,  were  they  dishonest 
(all  of  which  I  deny  them  to  be,  and  every  day's  experience 
justifies  my  denial);  but  were  those  charges  as  true  as  they 
are  foully  slanderous  and  absolutely  false,  is  it  for  us  to 
treat  our  victims  harshly  for  failings  or  for  faults  with  which 
our  treatment  of  him  has  corrupted  and  perverted  his 
nature,  instead  of  taking  to  ourselves  the  blame,  punishing 
ourselves  at  least  with  self-abasement,  and  atoning  with 
deepest  shame  for  having  implanted  vice  in  a  pure  soil? 

If  some  capricious  despot  were,  in  the  career  of  ordinary 
tyranny,  to  tax  his  pampered  fancy  to  produce  something 
more  monstrous,  more  unnatural  than  himself;  were  he  to 
graft  the  thorn  upon  the  vine,  or  place  the  dove  among  vul- 
tures to  be  reared,  much  as  we  might  marvel  at  this  freak  of 
a  perverted  appetite,  we  should  marvel  still  more  if  we  saw 


100 


LORD  BROUGHAM 


tyranny,  even  its  own  measure  of  proverbial  unreasonable- 
ness, and  complain  because  the  grape  was  not  gathered  from 
the  thorn,  or  because  the  dove  so  trained  had  a  thirst  for 
blood.  Yet  this  is  the  unnatural  caprice,  this  the  injustice, 
the  gross,  the  foul,  the  outrageous,  the  monstrous,  the 
incredible  injustice  of  which  we  are  daily  and  hourly  guilty 
towards  the  whole  of  the  ill-fated  African  race! 

My  lords,  we  fill  up  the  measure  of  this  injustice  by 
executing  laws  wickedly  conceived,  in  a  yet  more  atrocious 
spirit  of  cruelty.  Our  whole  punishments  smell  of  blood. 
Let  the  treadmill  stop,  from  the  weary  limbs  and  exhausted 
frames  of  the  sufferers  no  longer  having  the  power  to  press  it 
down  the  requisite  number  of  turns  in  a  minute,  the  lash 
instantly  resounds  through  the  mansion  of  woe!  Let  the 
stone  spread  out  to  be  broken  not  crumble  fast  enough 
beneath  the  arms  already  scarred,  flayed,  and  wealed  by  the 
whip,  again  the  scourge  tears  afresh  the  half-healed  flesh ! 

My  lords,  I  have  had  my  attention  directed  within  the  last 
two  hours  to  the  new  mass  of  papers  laid  on  our  table  from 
the  West  Indies.  The  bulk  I  am  averse  to  break,  but  a 
sample  I  have  culled  from  its  hateful  contents.  Eleven 
females  were  punished  by  severe  flogging,  and  then  put  on 
the  treadmill,  where  they  were  compelled  to  ply  until 
exhausted  nature  could  do  no  more.  When  faint,  and  about 
to  fall  off,  they  were  suspended  by  the  arms  in  such  a  man- 
ner that  has  been  described  to  me  by  a  most  respectable 
eye-witness  of  similar  scenes,  but  not  so  suspended  as  that 
the  mechanism  could  revolve  clear  of  their  person;  for  the 
wheel  at  each  turn  bruised  and  galled  their  legs,  till  their 
sufferings  had  reached  the  pitch  when  life  can  no  longer 
even  glimmer  in  the  socket  of  the  weary  frame.  In  the 
course  of  a  few  days  these  wretched  beings  "  languished,"  to 


ON  NEGRO  EMANCIPATION 


10] 


use  the  language  of  our  law  —  that  law  which  is  so  constantly 
and  systematically  violated — and,  "  languishing,  died." 

Ask  you  if  crimes  like  these,  murderous  in  their  legal 
nature  as  well  as  frightful  in  their  aspect,  passed  unnoticed; 
if  inquiry  was  neglected  to  be  made  respecting  those  deaths 
in  a  prison?  'No  such  thing!  The  forms  of  justice  were  on 
this  head  peremptory  even  in  the  West  Indies,  and  those 
forms,  the  handmaids  of  justice,  were  present,  though  their 
sacred  mistress  was  far  away.  The  coroner  duly  attended, 
his  jury  were  regularly  empanelled;  eleven  inquisitions  were 
made  in  order,  and  eleven  verdicts  returned.  Murder? 
Manslaughter?  Misdemeanor?  Misconduct?  ISTo!  but 
"  Died  by  the  visitation  of  God !  "  Died  by  the  visitation 
of  God!    A  lie!  —  a  perjury!  —  a  blasphemy! 

The  visitation  of  God!  Yes;  for  it  is  among  the  most 
awful  of  these  visitations  by  which  the  inscrutable  purposes 
of  his  will  are  mysteriously  accomplished,  that  he  sometimes 
arms  the  wicked  with  power  to  oppress  the  guiltless;  and, 
if  there  be  any  visitation  more  dreadful  than  another  —  any 
which  more  tries  the  faith  and  vexes  the  reason  of  erring 
mortals  —  it  is  when  heaven  showers  down  upon  the  earth 
the  plague  —  not  of  scorpions,  or  pestilence,  or  famine,  or 
war  —  but  of  unjust  judges  or  perjured  jurors  —  wretches 
who  pervert  the  law  to  wreak  their  personal  vengeance  or 
compass  their  sordid  ends,  and  forswear  themselves  on  the 
gospels  of  God,  to  the  end  that  injustice  may  prevail  and 
the  innocent  be  destroyed  — 

"  Sed  nos  immensum  spatiis  confecimus  sequor 
Et  jam  tempus  equis  spumentia  solvere  coUa."  ^ 

I  hasten  to^  a  close.  There  remains  little  to  add.  It  is, 
my  lords,  with  a  view  to  prevent  such  enormities  as  I  have 

*    We  have  traversed  the  boundless  spaces  of  the  desert 
And  the  time  has  come  to  unyoke  our  foaming  steeds." 


102 


LORD  BROUGHAM 


feebly  pictured  before  you,  to  correct  the  administration  of 
justice,  to  secure  the  comforts  of  the  negroes,  to  restrain 
the  cruelty  of  the  tormentors,  to  amend  the  discipline  of  the 
prisons,  to  arm  the  governors  with  local  authority  over  the 
police;  it  is  with  those  views  that  I  have  formed  the  first  five 
of  the  resolutions  now  upon  your  table,  intending  they  should 
take  effect  during  the  very  short  interval  of  a  few  months 
which  must  elapse  before  the  sixth  shall  give  complete 
liberty  to  the  slave. 

I  entirely  concur  in  the  observation  of  Mr.  Burke, 
repeated  and  more  happily  expressed  by  Mr.  Canning,  that 
the  masters  of  slaves  are  not  to  be  trusted  with  making 
laws  upon  slavery;  that  nothing  they  do  is  ever  found  effec- 
tual; and  that  if  by  some  miracle  they  even  chance  to  enact  a 
wholesome  regulation,  it  is  always  found  to  want  what 
Mr.  Burke  calls  "  the  executory  principle ;  "  it  fails  to 
execute  itself. 

But  experience  has  shown  that  when  the  lawgivers  of  the 
colonies  find  you  are  firmly  determined  to  do  your  duty, 
they  anticipate  you  by  doing  theirs.  Thus,  when  you 
announced  the  bill  for  amending  the  Emancipation  Act, 
they  outstripped  you  in  Jamaica,  and  passed  theirs  before  you 
could  reach  them. 

Let,  then,  your  resolutions  only  show  you  to  be  in  good 
earnest  now,  and  I  have  no  doubt  a  corresponding  disposition 
will  be  evinced  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic.  These 
improvements  are,  however,  only  to  be  regarded  as  tem- 
porary expedients, — as  mere  palliatives  of  an  enormous 
mischief  for  which  the  only  efficient  remedy  is  that  complete 
emancipation  which  I  have  demonstrated  by  the  unerring 
and  incontrovertible  evidence  of  facts,  as  well  as  the  clearest 
deductions  of  reason,  to  be  safe  and  practicable  ,  and,  there- 


ON  NEGRO  EMANCIPATION 


103 


fore,  proved  to  be  our  imperative  duty  at  once  to  pro- 
claim. 

From  the  instant  that  glad  sound  is  wafted  across  the 
ocean,  what  a  blessed  change  begins;  what  an  enchanting 
prospect  unfolds  itself!  The  African,  placed  on  the  same 
footing  with  other  men,  becomes  in  reality  our  fellow  citi- 
zen —  to  our  feelings,  as  well  as  in  his  own  nature,  our  equal, 
our  brother.  'No  difference  of  origin  or  color  can  now  pre- 
vail to  keep  the  two  castes  apart.  The  negro,  master  of  his 
own  labor, — only  induced  to  lend  his  assistance  if  you  make 
it  his  interest  to  help  you,  yet  that  aid  being  absolutely  neces- 
sary to  preserve  your  existence, — becomes  an  essential  por- 
tion of  the  community,  nay,  the  very  portion  upon  which  the 
whole  must  lean  for  support. 

This  ensures  him  all  his  rights;  this  makes  it  not  only  no 
longer  possible  to  keep  him  in  thraldom,  but  places  him  in  a 
complete  and  intimate  union  with  the  whole  mass  of  colonial 
society.  Where  the  driver  and  the  jailor  once  bore  sway, 
the  lash  resounds  no  more,  nor  does  the  clank  of  the  chain 
any  more  fall  upon  the  troubled  ear;  the  fetter  has  ceased 
to  gall  the  vexed  limb,  and  the  very  mark  disappears  which 
for  a  while  it  had  left.  All  races  and  colors  run  together 
the  same  glorious  race  of  improvement.  Peace  unbroken, 
harmony  uninterrupted,  calm  unruffled,  reign  in  mansion 
and  in  field,  in  the  busy  street  and  the  fertile  valley,  where 
nature,  with  the  lavish  hand  she  extends  under  the  tropical 
sun,  pours  forth  all  her  bounty  profusely,  because  received 
in  the  lap  of  cheerful  industry,  not  extorted  by  hands 
cramped  with  bonds. 

So  now  the  fulness  of  time  is  come  for  at  length  discharg- 
ing our  duty  to  the  African  captive.    I  have  demonstrated 


104 


LORD  BROUGHAM 


to  you  tliat  ever jtliing  is  ordered  —  every  previous  step 
taken  —  all  safe,  by  experience  shown  to  be  safe,  for  the 
long-desired  consummation.  The  time  has  come,  the  trial 
has  been  made,  the  hour  is  striking;  you  have  no  longer  a 
pretext  for  hesitation,  or  faltering,  or  delay.  The  slave  has 
shown,  by  four  years'  blameless  behavior  and  devotion  to  the 
pursuits  of  peaceful  industry,  that  he  is  as  fit  for  his  freedom 
as  any  English  peasant,  aye,  or  any  lord  whom  I  now 
address. 

I  demand  his  rights;  I  demand  his  liberty  without  stint. 
In  the  name  of  justice  and  of  law,  in  the  name  of  reason,  in 
the  name  of  Grod,  who  has  given  you  no  right  to  work  injus- 
tice, I  demand  that  your  brother  be  no  longer  trampled 
upon  as  your  slave!  I  make  my  appeal  to  the  Commons, 
who  represent  the  free  people  of  England,  and  I  require  at 
their  hands  the  performance  of  that  condition  for  which  they 
paid  so  enormous  a  price  —  that  condition  which  all  their 
constituents  are  in  breathless  anxiety  to  see  fulfilled! 
I  appeal  to  this  House!  Hereditary  judges  of  the  first  tri- 
bunal in  the  world,  to  you  I  appeal  for  justice!  Patrons  of 
all  the  arts  that  humanize  mankind,  under  your  protection 
I  place  humanity  herself!  To  the  merciful  Sovereign  of  a 
free  people,  I  call  aloud  for  mercy  to  the  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands for  whom  half  a  million  of  her  Christian  sisters  have 
cried  out;  I  ask  that  their  cry  may  not  have  risen  in  vain. 
But,  first,  I  turn  my  eye  to  the  Throne  of  all  justice,  and, 
devoutly  humbling  myself  before  him  who  is  of  purer  eyes 
than  to  behold  such  vast  iniquities,  I  implore  that  the  curse 
hovering  over  the  head  of  the  unjust  and  the  oppressor  be 
averted  from  us,  that  your  hearts  may  le  turned  to  mercy, 
and  that  over  all  the  earth  his  will  may  at  length  be  done! 


ROBERT  EMMET 


OBERT  Emmet,  Irish  revolutionary  patriot  and  orator,  was  born  at  Dublin 
in  1778.  Educated  at  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  where  he  distinguished 
himself  by  his  eloquence  in  the  College  historical  society,  he  was  designed 
for  the  Bar,  but  became  instead  one  of  the  leading  spirits  among  the 
United  Irishmen,  whose  aim  was  Irish  independence  and  severance  from  England.  In 
July,  1803,  he  led  a  body  of  insurrectionists  against  Dublin  Castle,  who,  on  the  way, 
soon  passed  beyond  his  control  and  wantonly  murdered  the  chief  justice.  Lord  Kilwarden, 
whose  carriage  they  intercepted.  When  the  rioters  were  dispersed.  Emmet  fled  to  the 
Wicklow  Mountains,  but  was  arrested  and  tried  for  treason,  pleading  his  cause  on  the 
occasion  in  a  long  and  eloquent  speech.  He  was  nevertheless  condemned  to  death,  and 
was  executed  Sept.  20,  1803.  His  death  and  his  love  for  Miss  Curran  are  the  themes 
of  two  of  Moore's  "Irish  Melodies." 

SPEECH  WHEN  UNDER  SENTENCE  OF  DEATH 

DELIVERED  AT  THE  SESSION  HOUSE,  DUBLIN.  BEFORE  LORD  NORBURY. 
SEPTEMBER  19.  1803 

MY  LORDS,  — What  have  I  to  say  why  sentence  of 
death  should  not  be  pronounced  on  me  according  to 
law?  I  have  nothing  to  say  that  can  alter  your 
predetermination,  nor  that  it  will  become  me  to  say  with 
any  view  to  the  mitigation  of  that  sentence  which  you  are 
here  to  pronounce  and  I  must  abide  by.  But  I  have  that  to 
say  which  interests  me  more  than  life  and  which  you  have 
labored  (as  was  necessarily  your  office  in  the  present  cir- 
cumstances of  this  oppressed  country)  to  destroy.  I  have 
much  to  say  why  my  reputation  should  be  rescued  from  the 
load  of  false  accusation  and  calumny  which  has  been  heaped 
upon  it.  I  do  not  imagine  that,  seated  where  you  are,  your 
minds  can  be  so  free  from  impurity  as  to  receive  the  least 
impression  from  what  I  am  going  to  utter, —  I  have  no  hopes 

(105) 


106 


BOBEKT  EMMET 


that  I  can  anchor  my  character  in  the  breast  of  a  court  con- 
stituted and  trammelled  as  this  is, —  I  only  wish,  and  it  is 
the  utmost  I  expect,  that  your  lordship  may  suffer  it  to  float 
down  your  memories,  untainted  by  the  foul  breath  of  preju- 
dice, until  it  finds  some  more  hospitable  harbor  to  shelter  it 
from  the  storm  by  which  it  is  at  present  buffeted. 

Was  I  only  to  suffer  death  after  being  adjudged  guilty  by 
your  tribunal,  I  should  bow  in  silence  and  meet  the  fate  that 
awaits  me  without  a  murmur:  but  the  sentence  of  law  which 
delivers  my  body  to  the  executioner  will,  through  the 
ministry  of  that  law,  labor,  in  its  own  vindication,  to  consign 
my  character  to  obloquy, —  for  there  must  be  guilt  some- 
where: whether  in  the  sentence  of  the  court  or  in  the 
catastrophe,  posterity  must  determine. 

A  man  in  my  situation,  my  lords,  has  not  only  to  encounter 
the  difficulties  of  fortune  and  the  force  of  power  over  minds 
which  it  has  corrupted  or  subjugated,  but  the  difficulties  of 
established  prejudice :  the  man  dies,  but  his  memory  lives. 
That  mine  may  not  perish,  that  it  may  live  in  the  respect  of 
my  countrymen,  I  seize  upon  this  opportunity  to  vindicate 
myself  from  some  of  the  charges  alleged  against  me. 

When  my  spirit  shall  be  wafted  to  a  more  friendly  port; 
when  my  shade  shall  have  joined  the  bands  of  those  martyred 
heroes  who  have  shed  their  blood  on  the  scaffold  and  in  the 
field  in  defense  of  their  country  and  of  virtue,  this  is  my 
hope:  I  wish  that  my  memory  and  name  may  animate  those 
who  survive  me,  while  I  look  down  with  complacency  on  the 
destruction  of  that  perfidious  government  which  upholds  its 
domination  by  blasphemy  of  the  Most  High;  which  displays 
its  power  over  man  as  over  the  beasts  of  the  forest;  which 
sets  man  upon  his  brother  and  lifts  his  hand  in  the  name  of 
God  against  the  throat  of  his  fellow  who  believes  or  doubts  a 


X 


WHEN  UNDER    SENTENCE    OF  DEATH 


107 


little  more  or  a  little  less  than  the  government  standard, — 
a  government  which  is  steeled  to  barbarity  by  the  cries 
of  the  orphans  and  the  tears  of  the  widows  which  it  has 
made  

[Here  Lord  [N'orbury  interrupted  Mr.  Emmet,  saying  that 
the  mean  and  wicked  enthusiasts  who  felt  as  he  did  were  not 
equal  to  the  accomplishment  of  their  wild  designs.] 

I  appeal  to  the  immaculate  God  —  I  swear  by  the  throne 
of  heaven,  before  which  I  must  shortly  appear  —  by  the 
blood  of  the  murdered  patriots  who  have  gone  before  me  — 
that  my  conduct  has  been,  through  all  this  peril  and  all  my 
purposes,  governed  only  by  the  convictions  which  I  have 
uttered,  and  by  no  other  view  than  that  of  their  cure  and  the 
emancipation  of  my  country  from  the  superinhuman  oppres- 
sion under  which  she  has  so  long  and  too  patiently  travailed; 
and  that  I  confidently  and  assuredly  hope  that,  wild  and 
chimerical  as  it  may  appear,  there  is  still  union  and  strength 
in  Ireland  to  accomplish  this  noble  enterprise. 

Of  this  I  speak  with  the  confidence  of  intimate  knowledge 
and  with  the  consolation  that  appertains  to  that  confidence. 
Think  not,  my  lord,  I  say  this  for  the  petty  gratification  of 
giving  you  a  transitory  uneasiness;  a  man  who  never  yet 
raised  his  voice  to  assert  a  lie  will  not  hazard  his  character 
with  posterity  by  asserting  a  falsehood  on  a  subject  so  impor- 
tant to  his  country  and  on  an  occasion  like  this.  Yes,  my 
lords,  a  man  who  does  not  wish  to  have  his  epitaph  written 
until  his  country  is  liberated  will  not  leave  a  weapon  in  the 
power  of  envy,  nor  a  pretence  to  impeach  the  probity  which 
he  means  to  preserve  even  in  the  grave  to  which  tyranny 
consigns  him. 


[Here  he  was  again  interrupted  by  the  court.] 


108 


ROBERT  EMMET 


Again  I  say  that  what  I  have  spoken  was  not  intended  for 
your  lordship,  whose  situation  I  commiserate  rather  than 
envy  my  expressions  were  for  my  countrymen;  if  there  is 
a  true  Irishman  present,  let  my  last  words  cheer  him  in  the 
hour  of  his  affliction. 

[Here  he  was  again  interrupted.  Lord  ^Torbury  said  he 
did  not  sit  there  to  hear  treason.] 

I  have  always  understood  it  to  be  the  duty  of  a  judge, 
when  a  prisoner  has  been  convicted,  to  pronounce  the  sen- 
tence of  the  law;  I  have  also  understood  that  judges  some- 
times think  it  their  duty  to  hear  with  patience  and  to  speak 
with  humanity;  to  exhort  the  victim  of  the  laws  and  to  offer 
with  tender  benignity  his  opinions  of  the  motives  by  which 
he  was  actuated  in  the  crime  of  which  he  had  been  adjudged 
guilty:  that  a  judge  has  thought  it  his  duty  so  to  have  done, 
I  have  no  doubt;  but  where  is  the  boasted  freedom  of  your 
institutions,  where  is  the  vaunted  impartiality,  clemency,  and 
mildness  of  your  courts  of  justice,  if  an  unfortunate  prisoner, 
whom  your  policy,  and  not  pure  justice,  is  about  to  deliver 
into  the  hands  of  the  executioner,  is  not  suffered  to  explain 
his  motives  sincerely  and  truly,  and  to  vindicate  the  princi- 
ples by  which  he  was  actuated? 

My  lords,  it  may  be  a  part  of  the  system  of  angry  justice 
to  bow  a  man's  mind  by  humiliation  to  the  purposed  igno- 
miny of  the  scaffold;  but  worse  to  me  than  the  purposed 
shame  or  the  scaffold's  terrors  would  be  the  shame  of  such 
foul  and  unfounded  imputations  as  have  been  laid  against 
me  in  this  court.  You,  my  lord,  are  a  judge ;  I  am  the  sup- 
posed culprit:  I  am  a  man,  you  are  a  man  also;  by  a  revolu- 
tion of  power  we  might  change  places,  though  we  never  could 
change  characters.    If  I  stand  at  the  bar  of  this  court  and 


WHEN   UNDER    SENTENCE    OF  DEATH 


109 


dare  not  vindicate  my  character,  what  a  farce  is  your  justice? 
If  I  stand  at  this  bar  and  dare  not  vindicate  my  character, 
how  dare  you  calumniate  it?  .Does  the  sentence  of  death 
which  your  unhallowed  policy  inflicts  on  my  body  also  con- 
demn my  tongue  to  silence  and  my  reputation  to  reproach? 
Your  executioner  may  abridge  the  period  of  my  existence ; 
but  while  I  exist  I  shall  not  forbear  to  vindicate  my  char- 
acter and  motives  from  your  aspersions;  and  as  a  man  to 
whom  fame  is  dearer  than  life  I  will  make  the  last  use  of  that 
life  in  doing  justice  to  that  reputation  which  is  to  live  after 
me,  and  which  is  the  only  legacy  I  can  leave  to  those  I  honor 
and  love,  and  for  whom  I  am  proud  to  perish.  As  men,  my 
lord,  we  must  appear  at  the  great  day  at  one  common  tri- 
bunal, and  it  will  then  remain  for  the  searcher  of  all  hearts 
to  show  a  collective  universe  who  was  engaged  in  the  most 
virtuous  actions  or  actuated  by  the  purest  motives  —  my 
country's  oppressors  or  

[Here  he  was  interrupted  and  told  to  listen  to  the  sentence 
of  the  law.] 

My  lord,  will  a  dying  man  be  denied  the  legal  privilege  of 
exculpating  himself,  in  the  eyes  of  the  community,  of  an 
undeserved  reproach  thrown  upon  him  during  his  trial,  by 
charging  him  with  ambition  and  attempting  to  cast  away,  for 
a  paltry  consideration,  the  liberties  of  his  country?  Why 
did  your  lordship  insult  me,  or,  rather,  why  insult  justice, 
in  demanding  of  me  why  sentence  of  death  should  not  be  pro- 
nounced? I  know,  my  lord,  that  form  prescribes  that  you 
should  ask  the  question;  the  form  also  presumes  a  right  of 
answering.  This,  no  doubt,  may  be  dispensed  with  —  and  so 
might  the  whole  ceremony  of  trial,  since  sentence  was 
already  pronounced  at  the  Castle  before  your  jury  was 


110 


ROBERT  EMMET 


impanelled;  jour  lordships  are  but  the  priests  of  the  oracle, 
and  I  submit;  but  I  insist  on  the  whole  of  the  forms. 

[Here  the  court  desired  him  to  proceed.] 

I  am  charged  with  being  an  emissary  of  France!  An 
emissary  of  France!  And  for  what  end?  It  is  alleged  that 
I  wished  to  sell  the  independence  of  my  country!  And  for 
what  end?  Was  this  the  object  of  my  ambition?  And  is 
this  the  mode  by  which  a  tribunal  of  justice  reconciles  con- 
tradictions? 1^0,  I  am  no  emissary;  and  my  ambition  was 
to  hold  a  place  among  the  deliverers  of  my  country;  not  in 
power  nor  in  profit,  but  in  the  glory  of  the  achievement! 
Sell  my  country's  independence  to  France!  And  for  what? 
Was  it  for  a  change  of  masters?  No!  But  for  ambition! 
Oh,  my  country,  was  it  personal  ambition  that  could  influence 
me,  had  it  been  the  soul  of  my  actions,  could  I  not  by  my 
education  and  fortune,  by  the  rank  and  consideration  of  my 
family,  have  placed  myself  among  the  proudest  of  my  oppres- 
sors? My  country  was  my  idol;  to  it  I  sacrificed  every  selfish, 
every  endearing  sentiment;  and  for  it  I  now  offer  up  my  life. 
Oh,  God  !  No,  my  lord ;  I  acted  as  an  Irishman,  determined 
on  delivering  my  country  from  the  yoke  of  a  foreign  and 
unrelenting  tyranny  and  from  the  more  galling  yoke  of  a 
domestic  faction  which  is  its  joint  partner  and  perpetrator  in 
the  parricide,  for  the  ignominy  of  existing  with  an  exterior 
of  splendor  and  of  conscious  depravity.  It  was  the  wish  of 
my  heart  to  extricate  my  country  from  this  doubly-riveted 
despotism. 

I  wished  to  place  her  independence  beyond  the  reach  of  any 
power  on  earth ;  I  wished  to  exalt  you  to  that  proud  station  in 
the  world. 

Connection  with  France  was  indeed  intended,  but  only 


WHEN  UNDER   SENTENCE    OF  DEATH  111 

as  far  as  mutual  interest  would  sanction  or  require.  Were 
they  to  assume  any  authority  inconsistent  with  the  purest 
independence,  it  would  be  the  signal  for  their  destruction. 
We  sought  aid,  and  we  sought  it  as  we  had  assurances  we 
should  obtain  it, —  as  auxiliaries  in  war  and  allies  in  peace. 

Were  the  French  to  come  as  invaders  or  enemies,  uninvited 
by  the  wishes  of  the  people,  I  should  oppose  them  to  the 
utmost  of  my  strength.  Yes,  my  countrymen,  I  should 
advise  you  to  meet  them  on  the  beach  with  a  sword  in  one 
hand  and  a  torch  in  the  other;  I  would  meet  them  with  all 
the  destructive  fury  of  war;  and  I  would  animate  my  coun- 
trymen to  immolate  them  in  their  boats  before  they  had  con- 
taminated the  soil  of  my  country.  If  they  succeeded  in 
landing,  and  if  forced  to  retire  before  superior  discipline,  I 
would  dispute  every  inch  of  ground,  burn  every  blade  of 
grass,  and  the  last  intrenchment  of  liberty  should  be  my  grave. 
What  I  could  not  do  myself,  if  I  should  fall,  I  should  leave 
as  a  last  charge  to  my  countrymen  to  accomplish;  because  I 
should  feel  conscious  that  life,  any  more  than  death,  is 
unprofitable  when  a  foreign  nation  holds  my  country  in 
subjection. 

But  it  was  not  as  an  enemy  that  the  succors  of  France  were 
to  land;  I  looked  indeed  for  the  assistance  of  France;  but  I 
wished  to  prove  to  France  and  to  the  world  that  Irishmen 
deserved  to  be  assisted;  that  they  were  indignant  at  slavery 
and  ready  to  assert  the  independence  and  liberty  of  their 
country. 

I  wished  to  procure  for  my  country  the  guarantee  which 
Washington  procured  for  America;  to  procure  an  aid  which 
by  its  example  would  be  as  important  as  its  valor,  disciplined, 
gallant,  pregnant  with  science  and  experience;  who  would 
perceive  the  good  and  polish  the  rough  points  of  our  char- 


112 


ROBERT  EMMET 


acter.  They  would  come  to  us  as  strangers  and  leave  us  as 
friends  after  sharing  in  our  perils  and  elevating  our  destiny. 
These  were  my  objects ;  not  to  receive  new  taskmasters,  but 
to  expel  old  tyrants ;  these  were  my  views,  and  these  only 
became  Irishmen.  It  was  for  these  ends  I  sought  aid  from 
France,  because  Trance,  even  as  an  enemy,  could  not  be  more 
implacable  than  the  enemy  already  in  the  bosom  of  my 
country. 

[Here  he  was  interrupted  by  the  court.] 

I  have  been  charged  with  that  importance  in  the  efforts  to 
emancipate  my  country  as  to  be  considered  the  keystone  of 
the  combination  of  Irishmen,  or,  as  your  lordship  expressed 
it,  "  the  life  and  blood  of  conspiracy."  You  do  me  honor 
over-much.  You  have  given  to  the  subaltern  all  the  credit 
of  a  superior.  There  are  men  engaged  in  this  conspiracy 
who  are  not  only  superior  to  me,  but  even  to  your  own 
conceptions  of  yourself,  my  lord;  men  before  the  splendor  of 
whose  genius  and  virtues  I  should  bow  with  respectful  defer- 
ence, and  who  would  think  themselves  dishonored  to  be  called 
your  friend  —  who"  would  not  disgrace  themselves  by  shaking 
your  blood-stained  hand  — 

[Here  he  was  interrupted.] 

What,  my  lord,  shall  you  tell  me,  on  the  passage  to  that 
scaffold  which  that  tyranny  of  which  you  are  only  the  inter- 
mediary executioner  has  erected  for  my  murder,  that  I  am 
accountable  for  all  the  blood  that  has  and  will  be  shed  in 
this  struggle  of  the  oppressed  against  the  oppressor?  —  shall 
you  tell  me  this  —  and  must  I  be  so  very  a  slave  as  not  to 
repel  it? 

I  do  not  fear  to  approach  the  Omnipotent  Judge  to  answer 


WHEN   UNDER   SENTENCE    OF  DEATH 


113 


for  the  conduct  of  my  whole  life;  and  am  I  to  be  appalled 
and  falsified  by  a  mere  remnant  of  mortality  here  ?  —  by  you, 
too,  who,  if  it  were  possible  to  collect  all  the  innocent  blood 
that  you  have  shed  in  your  unhallowed  ministry,  in  one  great 
reservoir,  your  lordship  might  swim  in  it. 

[Here  the  judge  interfered.] 

Let  no  man  dare,  when  I  am  dead,  to  charge  me  with  dis- 
honor; let  no  man  attaint  my  memory  by  believing  that  I 
could  have  engaged  in  any  cause  but  that  of  my  country's 
liberty  and  independence;  or  that  I  could  have  become  the 
pliant  minion  of  power  in  the  oporession  or  the  miseries  of 
my  countrymen.  The  proclamation  of  the  provisional  gov- 
ernment speaks  for  our  views;  no  inference  can  be  tortured 
from  it  to  countenance  barbarity  or  debasement  at  home,  or 
subjection,  humiliation,  or  treachery  from  abroad.  I  would 
not  have  submitted  to  a  foreign  oppressor  for  the  same  rea- 
son that  I  would  resist  the  foreign  and  domestic  oppressor; 
in  the  dignity  of  freedom  I  would  have  fought  upon  the 
threshold  of  my  country,  and  its  enemy  should  enter  only 
by  passing  over  my  lifeless  corpse.  Am  I,  who  lived  but  for 
my  country,  and  who  have  subjected  myself  to  the  dangers 
of  the  jealous  and  watchful  oppressor  and  the  bondage  of  the 
grave  only  to  give  my  countrymen  their  rights  and  my 
country  her  independence, —  am  I  to  be  loaded  with  calumny 
and  not  suffered  to  resent  or  repel  it?    No,  God  forbid! 

If  the  spirits  of  the  illustrious  dead  participate  in  the  con- 
cerns and  cares  of  those  who  are  dear  to  them  in  this  transi- 
tory life  —  O  ever  dear  and  venerated  shade  of  my  departed 
father,  look  down  with  scrutiny  upon  the  conduct  of  your 
suffering  son,  and  see  if  I  have  even  for  a  moment  deviated 
from  those  principles  of  morality  and  patriotism  which  it  was 

Vol.  5—8 


114 


ROBERT  EMMET 


youT  care  to  instil  into  my  youthful  mind,  and  for  which  I  am 
now  to  offer  up  my  life. 

My  lords,  you  are  impatient  for  the  sacrifice:  the  blood 
which  you  seek  is  not  congealed  by  the  artificial  terrors  which 
surround  your  victim;  it  circulates  warmly  and  unruffled 
through  the  channels  which  God  created  for  noble  purposes, 
but  which  you  are  bent  to  destroy  for  purposes  so  grievous 
that  they  cry  to  heaven. 

Be  yet  patient!  I  have  but  a  few  words  more  to  say.  I 
am  going  to  my  cold  and  silent  grave:  my  lamp  of  life  is 
nearly  extinguished:  my  race  is  run:  the  gTave  opens  to 
receive  me,  and  I  sink  into  its  bosom!  I  have  but  one 
request  to  ask  at  my  departure  from  this  world, —  it  is  the 
charity  of  its  silence!  Let  no  man  write  my  epitaph:  for  as 
no  man  who  knows  my  motives  dare  now  vindicate  them,  let 
not,  prejudice  or  ignorance  asperse  them.  Let  them  and  me 
repose  in  obscurity  and  peace,  and  my  tomb  remain  imin- 
scribed,  until  other  times  and  other  men  can  do  justice  to 
my  character.  When  my  country  takes  her  place  among 
the  nations  of  the  earth,  then,  and  not  till  then,  let  my  epi- 
j^aph  be  written.    I  have  done. 


JOSEPH  STORY 


OSEPH  Story,  an  eminent  American  jurist  and  author,  was  born  at  Marble- 
head,  Mass.,  Sept.  18,  1779,  and  died  at  Cambridge,  Mass.,  Sept.  10,  1845. 
Educated  at  Harvard,  he  studied  law  and  began  practice  at  Salem  in  1801, 
and  served  for  three  years  in  the  legislature  of  his  native  State.  In  1808, 
he  was  returned  in  the  Democratic  interest  to  Congress,  where  he  favored  the  repeal  of 
the  Embargo  Act,  a  measure  which  had  served  its  usefulness,  if  it  ever  had  any,  while 
it  had  entailed  much  loss  on  American  trade.  Two  years  later,  he  again  entered  the 
Massachusetts  legislature  and  was  elected  speaker.  In  1811,  he  was  appointed  asso- 
ciate justice  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  a  post  he  ably  filled  for  a  generation; 
in  1820,  he  helped  to  revise  the  State  constitution,  and  in  1829  became  Dane  professor 
of  law  at  Harvard,  an  office  created  for  him,  and  which  he  held  for  the  remainder  of 
his  life.  Story  was  a  high  authority  on  all  legal  questions,  his  decisions  from  the 
bench  and  written  opinions  on  constitutional  subjects  winning  much  and  deserved  fame. 
His  law  lectures  at  Harvard  and  his  many  legal  treatises  testify  not  only  to  his  ability 
and  soundness  as  a  lawyer,  but  also  to  his  attractiveness  as  a  writer  and  to  his  pains- 
taking and  untiring  industry.  Many  of  his  treatises  are  esteemed  of  much  value 
among  jurists  in  England,  while  several  of  them  have  become  text-books  there  as  well 
as  in  this  country.  Among  them  are  those  "On  Equity  Jurisprudence,"  "On  the 
Conflict  of  Laws,"  on  the  Law  of  Partnership,  Promissory  Notes,  Bills  of  Exchange, 
Bailments,  and  other  treatises;  besides  his  work  on  "Equity  ^leadings,"  and  his 
"Commentaries  on  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States." 

CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  AGE 

PRONOUNCED  AT  CAMBRIDGE,  BEFORE  THE  PHI  BETA  KAPPA  SOCIETY  OF 
HARVARD  UNIVERSITY.  AUGUST  31,  1826 

OE'E  of  the  most  striking  characteristics  of  our  age, 
and  that,  indeed,  which  has  worked  deepest  in  all 
the  changes  of  its  fortunes  and  pursuits,  is  the  gen- 
eral diffusion  of  knowledge.  This  is  emphatically  the  age 
of  reading.  In  other  times  this  was  the  privilege  of  the  few ; 
in  ours  it  is  the  possession  of  the  many.  Learning  once  con- 
stituted the  accomplishment  of  those  in  the  higher  orders 
of  society,  who  had  no  relish  for  active  employment,  and  of 
those  whose  monastic  lives  and  religious  profession  sought 

to  escape  from  the  weariness  of  their  common  duties.  Its 

(115) 


116 


JOSEPH  STORY 


progress  may  be  said  to  have  been  gradually  downward  from 
the  higher  to  the  middle  classes  of  society.  It  scarcely 
reached  at  all,  in  its  joys  or  its  sorrows,  in  its  instructions  or 
its  fantasies,  the  home  of  the  peasant  and  artisan.  It  now 
radiates  in  all  directions,  and  exerts  its  central  force  more 
in  the  middle  than  in  any  other  class  of  society.  The  means 
of  education  were  formerly  within  the  reach  of  few.  It 
required  wealth  to  accumulate  knowledge.  The  possession 
of  a  library  was  no  ordinary  achievement.  The  learned  lei- 
sure of  a  fellowship  in  some  university  seemed  almost  indis- 
pensable for  any  successful  studies;  and  the  patronage  of 
,  princes  and  courtiers  was  the  narrow  avenue  to  public  favor. 
I  speak  of  a  period  at  little  more  than  the  distance  of  two  cen- 
turies; not  of  particular  instances,  but  of  the  general  cast  and 
complexion  of  life. 

The  principal  cause  of  this  change  is  to  be  found  in  the 
freedom  of  the  press,  or  rather  in  this  co-operating  with  the 
cheapness  of  the  press.  It  has  been  aided  also  by  the  sys- 
tem of  free  schools,  wherever  it  has  been  established;  by  that 
liberal  commerce  which  connects  by  golden  chains  the  inter- 
ests of  mankind;  by  that  spirit  of  inquiry  which  Protestant- 
ism awakened  throughout  Christian  Europe;  and  above  all 
by  those  necessities  which  have  compelled  even  absolute  mon- 
archs  to  appeal  to  the  patriotism  and  common  sentiments  of 
their  subjects.  Little  more  than  a  century  has  elapsed  since 
the  press  in  England  was  under  the  control  of  a  licenser;  and 
within  our  own  days  only  has  it  ceased  to  be  a  contempt,  pun- 
ishable by  imprisonment,  to  print  the  debates  of  Parliament. 
We  all  know  how  it  still  is  on  the  continent  of  Europe.  It 
either  speaks  in  timid  undertones,  or  echoes  back  the  pre- 
scribed formularies  of  the  government.  The  moment  pub- 
licity is  given  to  affairs  of  state  they  excite  everywhere  an 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  AGE 


117 


irresistible  interest.  If  discussion  be  permitted,  it  will  soon 
be  necessary  to  enlist  talents  to  defend,  as  well  as  talents  to 
devise  measures.  The  daily  press  first  instructed  men  in 
tbeir  wants,  and  soon  found  that  the  eagerness  of  curiosity 
outstripped  the  power  of  gratifying  it.  No  man  can  now 
doubt  the  fact  that  wherever  the  press  is  free  it  will  eman- 
cipate the  people;  wherever  knowledge  circulates  unre- 
strained it  is  no  longer  safe  to  oppress;  wherever  public 
opinion  is  enlightened  it  nourishes  an  independent,  mascu- 
line, and  healthful  spirit.  If  Faustus  were  now  living  he 
might  exclaim  with  all  the  enthusiasm  of  Archimedes,  and 
with  a  far  nearer  approach  to  the  truth,  "  Give  me  where  I 
may  place  a  free  press,  and  I  will  shake  the  world." 

One  interesting  effect,  which  owes  its  origin  to  this  uni- 
versal love  and  power  of  reading,  is  felt  in  the  altered  con- 
dition of  authors  themselves.  They  no  longer  depend  upon 
the  smiles  of  a  favored  few.  The  patronage  of  the  great  is 
no  longer  submissively  entreated  or  exultingly  proclaimed. 
Their  patrons  are  the  public;  their  readers  are  the  civilized 
world.  They  address  themselves,  not  to  the  present  gen- 
eration alone,  but  aspire  to  instruct  posterity.  'No  blushing 
dedications  seek  an  easy  passport  to  fame  or  flatter  the  peril- 
ous condescension  of  pride.  ISTo  illuminated  letters  flourish 
on  the  silky  page  asking  admission  to  the  courtly  drawing- 
room.  Authors  are  no  longer  the  humble  companions  or 
dependents  of  the  nobility;  but  they  constitute  the  chosen 
ornaments  of  society  and  are  welcomed  to  the  gay  circles 
of  fashion  and  the  palaces  of  princes.  Theirs  is  no  longer 
an  unthrifty  vocation,  closely  allied  to  penury;  but  an  ele- 
vated profession,  maintaining  its  thousands  in  lucrative  pur- 
suits. It  is  not  with  them  as  it  was  in  the  days  of  Milton, 
whose  immortal  "  Paradise  Lost "  drew  five  sterling  pounds, 


118 


JOSEPH  STORY 


with  a  contingent  of  five  more,  from  the  reluctant  book- 
seller. 

My  Lord  Coke  would  hardly  find  good  authority  in  our 
day  for  his  provoking  commentary  on  the  memorable  statute 
of  the  fourth  Henry,  which  declares  that  ''none  henceforth 
shall  use  to  multiply  gold  or  silver,  or  use  the  craft  of  multi- 
plication," in  which  he  gravely  enumerates  five  classes  of 
beggars,  ending  the  catalogue  in  his  own  quaint  phraseology 
with  ''  poetasters,"  and  repeating  for  the  benefit  of  young 
apprentices  of  the  law  the  sad  admonition, 

"  Ssepe  pater  dixit,  Studium,  quid  inutile  tentas? 
Maeonidas  nuUas  ipse  reliquit  opes."^ 

There  are  certainly  among  us  those  who  are  within  the 
penalty  of  this  prohibition  if  my  Lord  Coke's  account  of  the 
matter  is  to  be  believed,  for  they  are  in  possession  of  what 
he  defines  to  be  "  a  certain  subtil  and  spiritual  substance 
extracted  out  of  things,"  whereby  they  transmute  many 
things  into  gold.  I  am  indeed  afraid  that  the  magician  of 
Abbotsford  is  accustomed  to  "use  the  craft  of  multiplica- 
tion; "  and  most  of  us  know  to  our  cost  that  he  has  changed 
many  strange  substances  into  very  gold  and  very  silver. 
Yet  even  if  he  be  an  old  offender  in  this  way,  as  is  shrewdly 
suspected,  there  is  little  danger  of  his  conviction  in  this  lib- 
eral age,  since,  though  he  gains  by  everything  he  parts  with, 
we  are  never  willing  to  part  with  anything  we  receive  from 
him. 

The  rewards  of  authorship  are  now  almost  as  sure  and  reg- 
ular as  those  of  any  other  profession.  There  are,  indeed, 
instances  of  wonderful  success  and  sad  failure;  of  genius 
pining  in  neglect;  of  labor  bringing  nothing  but  sickness  of 


^  "  Often  my  father  said:  'Why  dost  thou  useless  study?  '  He  himself  left 
no  Homeric  works." 


CHARACTERISTICS  OP  THE  AGE 


119 


the  heart;  of  fruitless  enterprise  baffled  in  every  adventure; 
of  learning  waiting  its  appointed  time  to  die  in  patient  suf- 
fering. But  this  is  the  lot  of  some  in  all  times.  Disappoint- 
ment crowds  fast  upon  human  footsteps  in  whatever  paths 
they  tread.  Eminent  good  fortune  is  a  prize  rarely  given  even 
to  the  foremost  in  the  race.  And  after  all,  he  who  has  read 
human  life  most  closely  knows  that  happiness  is  not  the  con- 
stant attendant  of  the  highest  public  favor;  and  that  it  rather 
belongs  to  those  who,  if  they  seldom  soar,  seldom  fall. 

Scarcely  is  a  work  of  real  merit  dry  from  the  English  press, 
before  it  wdngs  its  way  to  both  the  Indies  and  Americas.  It 
is  found  in  the  most  distant  climates  and  the  most  seques- 
tered retreats.  It  charms  the  traveller  as  he  sails  over  rivers 
and  oceans.  It  visits  our  lakes  and  our  forests.  It  kindles 
the  curiosity  of  the  thick-breathing  city  and  cheers  the  log 
hut  of  the  mountaineer.  The  lake  of  the  woods  resounds 
with  the  minstrelsy  of  our  mother  tongue,  and  the  plains  of 
Hindostan  are  tributary  to  its  praise.  I^ay,  more,  what  is 
the  peculiar  pride  of  our  age,  the  Bible  may  now  circulate  its 
consolations  and  instructions  among  the  poor  and  forlorn  of 
every  land  in  their  native  dialect.  Such  is  the  triumph  of 
letters;  such  is  the  triumph  of  Christian  benevolence. 

With  such  a  demand  for  books,  with  such  facilities  of  inter- 
course, it  is  no  wonder  that  reading  should  cease  to  be  a  mere 
luxury  and  should  be  classed  among  the  necessaries  of  life. 
Authors  may  now,  with  a  steady  confidence,  boast  that  they 
possess  a  hold  on  the  human  mind  which  grapples  closer  and 
mightier  than  all  others.  They  may  feel  sure  that  every 
just  sentiment,  every  enlightened  opinion,  every  earnest 
breathing  after  excellence  will  awaken  kindred  sympathies 
from  the  rising  to  the  setting  sun. 

Nor  should  it  be  overlooked  what  a  beneficial  impulse  has 


120 


JOSEPH  STORY 


been  tliiis  communicated  to  education  among  the  female  sex. 
If  Christianity  may  be  said  to  have  given  a  permanent  eleva- 
tion to  woman  as  an  intellectual  and  moral  being,  it  is  as 
true  that  the  present  age,  above  all  others,  has  given  play  to 
her  genius  and  taught  us  to  reverence  its  influence.  , 
It  was  the  fashion  of  other  times  to  treat  the  literary 
acquirements  of  the  sex  as  starched  pedantry  or  vain  pre- 
tensions; to  stigmatize  them  as  inconsistent  with  those  domes- 
tic affections  and  virtues  which  constitute  the  charm  of  soci- 
ety. We  had  abundant  homilies  read  upon  their  amiable 
weaknesses  and  sentimental  delicacy,  upon  their  timid  gentle- 
ness and  submissive  dependence;  as  if  to  taste  the  fruit  of 
knowledge  were  a  deadly  sin,  and  ignorance  were  the  sole 
guardian  of  innocence.  Their  whole  lives  were  ^'sicklied 
o^er  with  the  pale  cast  of  thought,"  and  concealment  of  intel- 
lectual power  was  often  resorted  to,  to  escape  the  dangerous 
imputation  of  masculine  strength.  In  the  higher  walks  of 
life  the  satirist  was  not  without  color  for  the  suggestion,  that 
it  was — 

"A  youth  of  folly,  an  old  age  of  cards;  " 

and  that  elsewhere  "  most  women  had  no  character  at  all " 
beyond  that  of  purity  and  devotion  to  their  families. 

Admirable  as  are  these  qualities,  it  seemed  an  abuse 
of  the  gifts  of  Providence  to  deny  to  mothers  the  power  of 
instructing  their  children,  to  wives  the  privilege  of  sharing 
the  intellectual  pursuits  of  their  husbands,  to  sisters  and 
daughters  the  delight  of  ministering  knowledge  in  the  fire- 
side circle,  to  youth  and  beauty  the  charm  of  refined  sense, 
to  age  and  infirmity  the  consolation  of  studies  which  elevate 
the  soul  and  gladden  the  listless  hours  of  despondency. 

These  things  have  in  a  great  measure  passed  away.  The 
prejudices  which  dishonored  the  sex   have  yielded  to  the 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  AGE 


121 


influence  of  truth.  By  slow  but  sure  advances  education 
has  extended  itself  through  all  ranks  of  female  society. 
There  is  no  longer  any  dread  lest  the  culture  of  science 
should  foster  that  masculine  boldness  or  restless  independence 
which  alarms  by  its  sallies  or  wounds  by  its  inconsistencies. 

We  have  seen  that  here,  as  everywhere  else,  knowledge  is 
favorable  to  human  virtue  and  human  happiness;  that  the 
refinement  of  literature  adds  lustre  to  the  devotion  of  piety; 
that  true  learning,  like  true  taste,  is  modest  and  unostenta- 
tious; that  grace  of  manners  receives  a  higher  polish  from  the 
discipline  of  the  schools;  that  cultivated  genius  sheds  a  cheer- 
ing light  over  domestic  duties,  and  its  very  sparkles,  like 
those  of  the  diamond,  attest  at  once  its  power  and  its  purity. 
There  is  not  a  rank  of  female  society,  however  high,  which 
does  not  now  pay  homage  to  literature,  or  that  would  not 
blush  even  at  the  suspicion  of  that  ignorance  which  a  half 
century  ago  was  neither  uncommon  nor  discreditable.  There 
is  not  a  parent  whose  pride  may  not  glow  at  the  thought 
that  his  daughter's  happiness  is  in  a  great  measure  within 
her  own  command,  whether  she  keeps  the  cool  sequestered 
vale  of  life  or  visits  the  busy  walks  of  fashion. 

A  new  path  is  thus  open  for  female  exertion,  to  alleviate 
the  pressure  of  misfortune,  without  any  supposed  sacrifice  of 
dignity  or  modesty.  Man  no  longer  aspires  to  an  exclusive 
dominion  in  authorship.  He  has  rivals  or  allies  in  almost 
every  department  of  knowledge;  and  they  are  to  be  found 
among  those  whose  elegance  of  manners  and  blamelessness 
of  life  command  his  respect  as  much  as  their  talents  excite 
his  admiration. 

Who  is  there  that  does  not  contemplate  with  enthusiasm 
the  precious  fragments  of  Elizabeth  Smith,  the  venerable  learn- 
ing of  Elizabeth  Carter,  the  elevated  piety  of  Hannah  More, 


122 


JOSEPH  STORY 


the  persuasive  sense  of  Mrs.  Barbauld,  the  elegant  memoirs 
of  her  accomplished  niece,  the  bewitching  fictions  of  Madame 
D^Arblay,  the  vivid,  picturesque,  and  terrific  imagery  of  Mrs. 
Eadcliffe,  the  glowing  poetry  of  Mrs.  Hemans,  the  matchless 
wit,  the  inexhaustible  conversations,  the  fine  character-paint- 
ing, the  practical  instructions  of  Miss  Edgeworth,  the  great 
known,  standing  in  her  own  department  by  the  side  of  the 
great  unknown? 

Another  circumstance,  illustrative  of  the  character  of  our 
age,  is  the  bold  and  fearless  spirit  of  its  speculations.  Noth- 
ing is  more  common  in  the  history  of  mankind  than  a  servile 
adoption  of  received  opinions  and  a  timid  acquiescence  in 
whatever  is  established. 

It  matters  not  whether  a  doctrine  or  institution  owes  its 
existence  to  accident  or  design,  to  wisdom,  or  ignorance,  or 
folly;  there  is  a  natural  tendency  to  give  it  an  undue  value 
in  proportion  to  its  antiquity.  What  is  obscure  in  its  origin 
warms  and  gratifies  the  imagination.  What  in  its  progress 
has  insinuated  itself  into  the  general  habits  and  manners  of 
a  nation  becomes  imbedded  in  the  solid  mass  of  society.  It 
is  only  at  distant  intervals,  from  an  aggregation  of  causes, 
that  some  stirring  revolution  breaks  up  the  old  foundations, 
or  some  mighty  genius  storms  and  overthrows  the  entrench- 
ments of  error. 

Who  would  believe,  if  history  did  not  record  the  fact,  that 
the  metaphysics  of  Aristotle,  or  rather  the  misuse  of  his  meta- 
physics, held  the  human  mind  in  bondage  for  two  thousand 
years?  that  Galileo  was  imprisoned  for  proclaiming  the  true 
theory  of  the  solar  system?  that  the  magnificent  discoveries 
of  Sir  Isaac  Newton  encountered  strong  opposition  from  phil- 
osophers ?  that  Locke's  ^'  Essay  on  Human  Understanding  " 
found  its  way  with  infinite  difiiculty  into  the  studies  of  the 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  AGE 


123 


English  universities?  that  Lord  Bacon's  method  of  induction 
never  reached  its  splendid  triumphs  until  our  day?  that  the 
doctrine  of  the  divine  right  of  kings  and  the  absolute  alle- 
giance of  subjects  constituted  nearly  the  whole  theory  of  gov- 
ernment from  the  fall  of  the  Roman  Republic  to  the  seven- 
teenth century?  that  Christianity  itself  was  overlaid  and 
almost  buried  for  many  centuries,  by  the  dreamy  comments 
of  monks,  the  superstitions  of  fanatics,  and  the  traditions  of 
the  Church?  that  it  was  an  execrable  sin  throughout  Christen- 
dom to  read  and  circulate  the  Holy  Scriptures  in  the  vulgar 
tongue  ?  ]^ay,  that  it  is  still  a  crime  in  some  nations,  of  which 
the  Inquisition  would  take  no  very  indulgent  notice,  even 
if  the  head  of  the  Catholic  Church  should  not  feel  that  Bible 
societies  deserve  his  denunciation? 

Even  the  great  reformers  of  the  Protestant  Church  left 
their  work  but  half  done,  or  rather  came  to  it  with  notions 
far  too  limited  for  its  successful  accomplishment.  They  com- 
batted  errors  and  abuses  and  laid  the  broad  foundations  of 
a  more  rational  faith.  But  they  were  themselves  insensible 
to  the  just  rights  and  obligations  of  religious  inquiry.  They 
thought  all  error  intolerable ;  but  they  forgot  in  their  zeal 
that  the  question,  what  was  truth,  was  open  to  all  for  discus- 
sion. They  assumed  to  themselves  the  very  infallibility 
which  they  rebuked  in  the  Romish  Church ;  and  as  unre- 
lentingly persecuted  heresies  of  opinion  as  those  who  had 
sat  for  ages  in  the  judgment-seat  of  St.  Peter. 

They  allowed,  indeed,  that  all  men  had  a  right  to  inquire; 
but  they  thought  that  all  must,  if  honest,  come  to  the  same 
conclusion  with  themselves;  that  the  full  extent  of  Christian 
liberty  was  the  liberty  of  adopting  those  opinions  which  they 
promulgated  as  true.  The  unrestrained  right  of  private  judg- 
ment, the  glorious  privilege  of  a  free  conscience,  as  now  estab- 


JOSEPH  STORY 


lished  ill  this  favored  land,  was  farther  from  their  thoughts 
even  than  Popery  itself. 

I  would  not  be  unjust  to  these  great  men.  The  fault  was 
less  theirs  than  that  of  the  age  in  which  they  lived.  .  .  . 

To  us,  Americans,  nothing  indeed  can  or  ought  to  be 
indifferent  that  respects  the  cause  of  science  and  literature. 
We  have  taken  a  stand  among  the  nations  of  the  earth,  and 
have  successfully  asserted  our  claim  to  political  equality. 
We  possess  an  enviable  elevation  so  far  as  concerns  the 
structure  of  our  government,  our  political  policy,  and  the 
moral  energy  of  our  institutions.  If  we  are  not  without 
rivals  in  these  respects  we  are  scarcely  behind  any,  even  in 
the  general  estimate  of  foreign  nations  themselves.  But  our 
claims  are  far  more  extensive.  We  assert  an  equality  of 
voice  and  vote  in  the  republic  of  letters,  and  assume  for  our- 
selves the  right  to  decide  on  the  merits  of  others  as  well  as 
to  vindicate  our  own. 

These  are  lofty  pretensions,  which  are  never  conceded  with- 
out proofs,  and  are  severely  scrutinized  and  slowly  admitted 
by  the  grave  judges  in  the  tribunal  of  letters.  We  have  not 
placed  ourselves  as  humble  aspirants,  seeking  our  way  to 
higher  rewards  under  the  guardianship  of  experienced  guides. 
We  ask  admission  into  the  temple  of  fame  as  joint  heirs  of 
the  inheritance,  capable,  in  the  manhood  of  our  strength, 
of  maintaining  our  title. 

We  contend  for  prizes  with  nations  whose  intellectual 
glory  has  received  the  homage  of  centuries.  France,  Italy, 
Germany,  England,  can  point  to  the  past  for  monuments  of 
their  genius  and  skill,  and  to  the  present  with  the  undismayed 
confidence  of  veterans.  It  is  not  for  us  to  retire  from  the 
ground  which  we  have  chosen  to  occupy,  nor  to  shut  our  eyes 
against  the  difficulties  of  maintaining  it. 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  AGE 


125 


It  is  not  by  a  few  vain  boasts,  or  vainer  self-complacency,  or 
rash  daring,  that  we  are  to  win  our  way  to  the  first  literary 
distinction.  We  must  do  as  others  have  done  before  us. 
We  must  serve  in  the  hard  school  of  discipline;  we  must 
invigorate  our  powers  by  the  studies  of  other  times.  We 
must  gTiide  our  footsteps  by  those  stars  which  have  shone 
and  still  continue  to  shine  with  inextinguishable  light  in  the 
firmament  of  learning.  ISTor  have  we  any  reason  for  despond- 
ency. There  is  that  in  American  character  which  has  never 
yet  been  found  unequal  to  its  purpose.  There  is  that  in 
American  enterprise  w^hich  shrinks  not,  and  faints  not,  and 
fails  not  in  its  labors.    We  may  say  with  honest  pride, 

"  Man  is  the  nobler  growth  our  realms  supply. 
And  souls  are  ripen'd  In  our  northern  sky." 

We  may  not  then  shrink  from  a  rigorous  examination 
of  our  own  deficiencies  in  science  and  literature.  If  we  have 
but  a  just  sense  of  our  wants  we  have  gained  half  the  victory. 
If  we  but  face  our  difficulties  they  will  fly  before  us.  Let 
us  not  discredit  our  just  honors  by  exaggerating  little  attain- 
ments. There  are  those  in  other  countries  who  can  keenly 
search  out  and  boldly  expose  every  false  pretension.  There 
are  those  in  our  own  country  who  would  scorn  a  reputation 
ill-founded  in  fact  and  ill-sustained  by  examples.  We  have 
solid  claims  upon  the  affection  and  respect  of  mankind.  Let 
us  not  jeopard  them  by  a  false  shame  or  an  ostentatious 
pride.  The  growth  of  two  hundred  years  is  healthy,  lofty, 
expansive.  The  roots  have  shot  deep  and  far;  the  branches 
are  strong  and  broad.  I  trust  that  many,  many  centuries  to 
come  will  witness  the  increase  and  vigor  of  the  stock. 
'Neyev,  never  may  any  of  our  posterity  have  just  occasion  to 
speak  of  our  country  in  the  expressiveness  of  Indian  rhetoric, 

It  is  an  aged  hemlock;  it  is  dead  at  the  top."  .  .  . 


126 


JOSEPH  STORY 


There  is,  indeed,  enough  in  our  past  history  to  flatter 
our  pride  and  encourage  our  exertions.  We  are  of  the 
lineage  of  the  Saxons,  the  countrymen  of  Bacon,  Locke]  and 
Newton,  as  well  as  of  Washington,  Franklin,  and  Fulton. 
We  have  read  the  history  of  our  forefathers.  They  were 
men  full  of  piety  and  zeal,  and  an  unconquerable  love  of 
liberty.  They  also  loved  human  learning  and  deemed  it 
second  only  to  divine.  Here,  on  this  very  spot,  in  the 
bosom  of  the  wilderness,  within  ten  short  years  after  their 
voluntary  exile,  in  the  midst  of  cares  and  privations  and  suf- 
ferings, they  found  time  to  rear  a  little  school  and  dedicate 
it  to  God  and  the  church.  It  has  grown;  it  has  flourished; 
it  is  the  venerable  university  to  whose  walls  her  grateful 
children  anually  come  with  more  than  filial  affection.  The 
sons  of  such  ancestors  can  never  dishonor  their  memories ;  the 
pupils  of  such  schools  can  never  be  indifferent  to  the  cause 
of  letters. 

There  is  yet  more  in  our  present  circumstances  to  inspire 
us  with  a  wholesome  consciousness  of  our  powers  and  our 
destiny.  We  have  just  passed  the  jubilee  of  our  indepen- 
dence and  witnessed  the  prayers  and  gratitude  of  millions 
ascending  to  heaven  for  our  public  and  private  blessings. 
That  independence  was  the  achievement,  not  of  faction  and 
ignorance,  but  of  hearts  as  pure,  and  minds  as  enlightened, 
and  judgments  as  sound  as  ever  graced  the  annals  of  man- 
kind. Among  the  leaders  were  statesmen  and  scholars  as 
well  as  heroes  and  patriots.  We  have  followed  many  of 
them  to  the  tomb,  blest  with  the  honors  of  their  country. 
We  have  been  privileged  yet  more;  we  have  lived  to  witness 
an  almost  miraculous  event  in  the  departure  of  two  great 
authors  of  our  independence  on  that  memorable  and  blessed 
day  of  jubilee. 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  AGE 


127 


I  may  not  in  this  place  presume  to  pronounce  the  funeral 
panegyric  of  these  extraordinary  men.  It  has  been  already 
done  by  some  of  the  master-spirits  of  our  country,  by  men 
worthy  of  the  task,  worthy  as  Pericles  to  pronounce  the  honors 
of  the  Athenian  dead.  It  was  the  beautiful  saying  of  the 
Grecian  orator  that  "  This  whole  earth  is  the  sepulchre  of 
illustrious  men.  Nor  is  it  the  inscriptions  on  the  columns 
in  their  native  soil  alone  that  show  their  merit,  but  the 
memorial  of  them,  better  than  all  inscriptions,  in  every 
foreign  nation,  reposited  more  durably  in  universal  remem- 
brance than  on  their  own  tomb." 

Such  is  the  lot  of  Adams  and  Jefferson.  They  have  lived, 
not  for  themselves,  but  for  their  country;  not  for  their  coun- 
try alone,  but  for  the  world.  They  belong  to  history  as 
furnishing  some  of  the  best  examples  of  disinterested  and 
successful  patriotism.  They  belong  to  posterity  as  the 
instructors  of  all  future  ages  in  the  principles  of  rational 
liberty  and  the  rights  of  the  people.  They  belong  to  us  of 
the  present  age  by  their  glory,  by  their  virtues,  and  by  their 
achievements.  These  are  memorials  which  can  never  perish. 
They  will  brighten  with  the  lapse  of  time,  and,  as  they  loom 
on  the  ocean  of  eternity,  will  seem  present  to  the  most  distant 
generations  of  men.  That  voice  of  more  than  Roman  elo- 
quence which  urged  and  sustained  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, that  voice  whose  first  and  whose  last  accents  were 
for  his  country,  is,  indeed,  mute.  It  will  never  again  rise 
in  defence  of  the  weak  against  popular  excitement  and  vindi- 
cate the  majesty  of  law  and  justice.  It  will  never  again 
awaken  a  nation  to  arms  to  assert  its  liberties.  It  will  never 
again  instruct  the  public  councils  by  its  wisdom.  It  will 
never  again  utter  its  almost  oracular  thoughts  in  philosophi- 
cal retirement.    It  will  never  again  pour  out  its  strains  of 


128 


JOSEPH  STORY 


parental  affection,  and  in  the  domestic  circle  give  new  lorue 
and  fervor  to  the  consolations  of  religion.  The  hand,  too, 
which  inscribed  the  Declaration  of  Independence  is,  indeed, 
laid  low.  The  weary  head  reposes  on  its  mother  earth.  The 
mountain  winds  sweep  by  the  narrow  tomb,  and  all  around 
has  the  loneliness  of  desolation.  The  stranger-guest  may  no 
longer  visit  that  hospitable  home  and  find  him  there  whose 
classical  taste  and  various  conversation  lent  a  charm  to  every 
leisure  hour;  whose  bknd  manners  and  social  simplicity 
made  every  welcome  doubly  dear;  whose  expansive  mind 
commanded  the  range  of  almost  every  art  and  science ;  whose 
political  sagacity,  like  that  of  his  illustrious  coadjutor,  read 
the  fate  and  interests  of  nations  as  with  a  second-sight,  and 
scented  the  first  breath  of  tyranny  in  the  passing  gale;  whose 
love  of  liberty,  like  his,  was  inflexible,  universal,  supreme; 
whose  devotion  to  their  common  country,  like  his,  never  fal- 
tered in  the  worst  and  never  wearied  in  the  best  of  times; 
whose  public  services  ended  but  with  life,  carrying  the  long 
line  of  their  illumination  over  sixty  years;  whose  last 
thoughts  exhibited  the  ruling  passion  of  his  heart,  enthusi- 
asm in  the  cause  of  education;  whose  last  breathing  com- 
mitted his  soul  to  God  and  his  offspring  to  his  country. 

Yes,  Adams  and  Jefferson  are  gone  from  us  forever  — 
gone,  as  a  sunbeam  to  revisit  its  native  skies  —  gone,  as  this 
mortal,  to  put  on  immortality.  Of  them,  of  each  of  them, 
every  American  may  exclaim: 

"  Ne'er  to  the  chambers  where  the  mighty  rest. 
Since  their  foundation,  came  a  nobler  guest. 
Nor  e'er  was  to  the  bowers  of  bliss  conveyed 
A  fairer  spirit  or  more  welcome  shade." 

We  may  not  mourn  over  the  departure  of  such  men.  ^We 
should  rather  hail  it  as  a  kind  dispensation  of  Providence  to 
affect  our  hearts  with  new  and  livelier  gratitude.    They  were 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  AGE 


129 


not  cut  off  in  the  blossom  of  their  days,  while  yet  the  vigor 
of  manhood  flushed  their  cheeks  and  the  harvest  of  glory  was 
ungathered.  They  fell  not  as  martyrs  fall,  seeing  only  in  dim 
perspective  the  salvation  of  their  country.  They  lived  to 
enjoy  the  blessings  earned  by  their  labors  and  to  realize  all 
which  their  fondest  hopes  had  desired.  The  infirmities  of  life 
stole  slowly  and  silently  upon  them,  leaving  still  behind  a 
cheerful  serenity  of  mind.  In  peace,  in  the  bosom  of  domes- 
tic affection,  in  the  hallowed  reverence  of  their  countrymen, 
in  the  full  possession  of  their  faculties,  they  wore  out  the  last 
remains  of  life,  without  a  fear  to  cloud,  with  scarcely  a  sorrow 
to  disturb  its  close.  The  joyful  day  of  our  jubilee  came  over 
them  with  its  refreshing  influence.  To  them,  indeed,  it  was 
"  a  great  and  good  day."  The  morning  sun  shone  with  soft- 
ened lustre  on  their  closing  eyes.  Its  evening  beams  played 
lightly  on  their  brows,  calm  in  all  the  dignity  of  death.  Their 
spirits  escaped  from  these  frail  tenements  without  a  struggle 
or  a  groan.  Their  death  was  gentle  as  an  infant's  sleep.  It 
was  a  long,  lingering  twilight,  melting  into  the  softest  shade. 

Fortunate  men,  so  to  have  lived,  and  so  to  have  died.  For- 
tunate to  have  gone  hand  in  hand  in  the  deeds  of  the  Revolu- 
tion. Fortunate  in  the  generous  rivalry  of  middle  life. 
Fortunate  in  deserving  and  receiving  the  highest  honors  of 
their  country.  Fortunate  in  old  age  to  have  rekindled  their 
ancient  friendship  with  a  holier  flame.  Fortunate  to  have 
passed  through  the  dark  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death 
together.  Fortunate  to  be  indissolubly  united  in  the  mem- 
ory and  affections  of  their  countrymen.  Fortunate,  above  all, 
in  an  immortality  of  virtuous  fame,  on  which  history  may 
with  severe  simplicity  write  the  dying  encomium  of  Pericles, 
"  No  citizen,  through  their  means,  ever  put  on  mourning.'' 

Vol.  5-9 


WILLIAM  E.  CHAINING 


ILLIAM  Ellery  Channing,  a  distinguished  Unitarian  clergyman,  author, 
and  philanthropist,  was  born  at  Newport,  R.  I.,  April  7,  1780,  and  died 
at  Bennington,  Vt.,  Oct.  2,  1842.  After  graduating  with  high  honors 
at  Harvard,  he  became  a  private  tutor  for  a  time  at  Richmond,  Va.,  and 
then  studied  theology  and  became,  in  1803,  pastor  of  the  Federal  Street  Church, 
Boston,  Mass.,  where  for  thirty  years  he  exercised  a  wide  and  beneficent  influence. 
Though  strictly  allied  with  no  theological  sect,  he  became  the  recognized  leader  in 
this  country  of  the  Unitarian  movement  and  gained  a  high  reputation  for  the  saint- 
liness  of  his  character  and  the  spirituality  and  literary  beauty  of  his  sermons.  In 
his  later  years  he  became  an  earnest  advocate  of  social  reforms,  interested  in  the 
welfare  of  the  laboring  classes,  zealous  for  negro  emancipation,  and  an  active  pro- 
moter of  temperance.  Disliking  controversy,  he  was  on  one  occasion,  however, 
drawn  into  it,  in  the  interest  of  liberal  Christianity,  and  took  advantage  of  the  oc- 
casion to  define,  at  Baltimore,  Md.,  in  1819,  the  Unitarian  position,  in  a  remarkable 
sermon  preached  at  the  ordination  of  Jared  Sparks,  afterward  the  well-known  his- 
torian and  president  of  Harvard.  He  was  strongly  opposed  to  sectarian  dogmatism 
and  exclusiveness,  zealous  for  religious  liberty,  and  upheld  the  supremacy  of  reason 
in  religious  matters  and  the  dignity  of  human  nature.  Though  not  a  believer  in 
the  deity  of  Christ,  he  patterned  himself  on  his  moral  character  and  impressively 
taught  his  ethical  gospel.  His  writings,  which  have  had  a  large  sale  in  Britain,  as 
well  as  in  this  country,  are  numerous,  and  include  not  only  his  sermons,  but  many 
felicitous  addresses  and  essays.  These  in  their  collected  form  have  been  issued  by 
the  American  Unitarian  Association,  which  also  issues  a  life  by  his  nephew,  Wm. 
Henry  Channing. 


CHARACTER  OF  CHRIST 
"This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased." — Matthew  xvii,  5. 

THE  character  of  Christ  may  be  studied  for  various  pur- 
poses.   It  is  singularly  fitted  to  call  forth  the  heart, 
to  awaken  love,  admiration,  and  moral  delight.  As 
an  example  it  has  no  rival.    As  an  evidence  of  his  religion 

perhaps  it  yields  to  no  other  proof;  perhaps  no  other  has  so 
(130) 


CHARACTER  OF  CHRIST 


131 


often  conquered  unbelief.  It  is  chiefly  to  this  last  view  of 
it  that  I  now  ask  your  attention.  The  character  of  Christ  is 
a  strong  confirmation  of  the  truth  of  his  religion.  As  such 
I  would  now  place  it  before  you.  I  shall  not,  however,  think 
only  of  confirming  your  faith;  the  very  illustrations  which 
I  shall  adduce  for  this  purpose  will  show  the  claims  of 
Jesus  to  our  reverence,  obedience,  imitation,  and  fervent 
love. 

The  more  we  contemplate  Christ's  character  as  exhibited 
in  the  Gospel,  the  more  we  shall  be  impressed  with  its  gen- 
uineness and  reality.  It  was  plainly  drawn  from  the  life. 
The  narratives  of  the  Evangelists  bear  the  marks  of  truth 
perhaps  beyond  all  other  histories.  They  set  before  us  the 
most  extraordinary  being  who  ever  appeared  on  earth,  and 
yet  they  are  as  artless  as  the  stories  of  childhood.  The 
authors  do  not  think  of  themselves.  They  have  plainly  but 
one  aim,  to  show  us  their  Master;  and  they  manifest  the 
deep  veneration  which  he  inspired  by  leaving  him  to  reveal 
himself,  by  giving  us  his  actions  and  sayings  without  com- 
ment, explanation,  or  eulogy. 

You  see  in  these  narratives  no  varnishing,  no  high  coloring, 
no  attempts  to  make  his  actions  striking  or  to  bring  out  the 
beauties  of  his  character.  We  are  never  pointed  to  any  cir- 
cumstance as  illustrative  of  his  greatness.  The  Evangelists 
write  with  a  calm  trust  in  his  character,  with  a  feeling  that  it 
needed  no  aid  from  their  hands,  and  with  a  deep  veneratioii, 
as  if  comment  or  praise  of  their  own  were  not  worthy  to 
mingle  with  the  recital  of  such  a  life. 

It  is  the  eifect  of  our  familiarity  with  the  history  of  Jesus 
that  we  are  not  struck  by  it  as  we  ought  to  be.  We  read  it 
before  we  are  capable  of  understanding  its  excellence.  His 
stupendous  works  become  as  familiar  to  us  as  the  events  of 


132 


WILLIAM  ELLERT  CHANNING 


ordinary  life,  and  his  high  offices  seem  as  much  matters  of 
course  as  the  common  relations  which  men  bear  to  each 
other. 

On  this  account  it  is  fit  for  the  ministers  of  religion  to  do 
what  the  Evangelists  did  not  attempt,  to  offer  comments  on 
Christ's  character,  to  bring  out  its  features,  to  point  men  to 
its  higher  beauties,  to  awaken  their  awe  by  unfolding  its 
wonderful  majesty.  Indeed,  one  of  our  most  important 
functions  as  teachers  is  to  give  freshness  and  vividness  to 
truths  which  have  become  worn,  I  had  almost  said  tarnished, 
by  long  and  familiar  handling.  We  have  to  fight  with  the 
power  of  habit.  Through  habit  men  look  on  this  glorious 
creation  with  insensibility,  and  are  less  moved  by  the  all- 
enlightening  sun  than  by  a  show  of  fireworks.  It  is  the 
duty  of  a  moral  and  religious  teacher  almost  to  create  a  new 
sense  in  men,  that  they  may  learn  in  what  a  world  of  beauty 
and  magnificence  they  live.  And  so  in  regard  to  Christ's 
character;  men  become  used  to  it  until  they  imagine  that 
there  is  something  more  admirable  in  a  great  man  of  their 
own  day,  a  statesman  or  a  conqueror,  than  in  him  the 
latchet  of  whose  shoes  statesmen  and  conquerors  are  not 
worthy  to  unloose. 

In  this  discourse  I  wish  to  show  that  the  character  of 
Christ,  taken  as  a  whole,  is  one  which  could  not  have  entered 
the  thoughts  of  man,  could  not  have  been  imagined  or 
feigned;  that  it  bears  every  mark  of  genuineness  and  truth; 
that  it  ought  therefore  to  be  acknowledged  as  real  and  of 
divine  origin. 

It  is  all-important,  my  friends,  if  we  would  feel  the  force 
of  this  argument,  to  transport  ourselves  to  the  times  when 
Jesus  lived.  We  are  very  apt  to  think  that  he  was  moving 
about  in  such  a  city  as  this,  or  among  a  people  agreeing 


CHARACTER  OP  CHRIST 


133 


with  ourselves  in  modes  of  thinking  and  habits  of  life.  But 
the  truth  is,  he  lived  in  a  state  of  society  singularly  remote 
from  our  own. 

Of  all  nations  the  Jewish  was  the  most  strongly  marked. 
The  Jew  hardly  felt  himself  to  belong  to  the  human  family. 
He  was  accustomed  to  speak  of  himself  as  chosen  by  God, 
holy,  clean;  whilst  the  Gentiles  were  sinners,  dogs,  polluted, 
unclean.  His  common  dress,  the  phylactery  on  his  brow  or 
arm,  the  hem  of  his  garment,  his  food,  the  ordinary  circum- 
stances of  his  life,  as  well  as  his  temple,  his  sacrifices,  his 
ablutions,  all  held  him  up  to  himself  as  a  peculiar  favorite 
of  God,  and  all  separated  him  from  the  rest  of  the 
world.  With  other  nations  he  could  not  eat  or  marry. 
They  were  unworthy  of  his  communion.  Still,  with  all  these 
notions  of  superiority  he  saw  himself  conquered  by  those 
whom  he  despised.  He  was  obliged  to  wear  the  shackles  of 
Rome,  to  see  Roman  legions  in  his  territory,  a  Roman  guard 
near  his  temple,  and  a  Roman  tax-gatherer  extorting,  for  the 
support  of  an  idolatrous  government  and  an  idolatrous  wor- 
ship, what  he  regarded  as  due  only  to  God.  The  hatred 
which  burned  in  the  breast  of  the  Jew  toward  his  foreign 
oppressor  perhaps  never  glowed  with  equal  intenseness  in  any 
other  conquered  state. 

He  had,  however,  his  secret  consolation.  The  time  was 
near,  the  prophetic  age  was  at  hand,  when  Judea  was  to  break 
her  chains  and  rise  from  the  dust.  Her  long-promised  king 
and  deliverer  was  near,  and  was  coming  to  wear  the  crown  of 
universal  empire.  From  Jerusalem  was  to  go  forth  his  law, 
and  all  nations  were  to  serve  the  chosen  people  of  God.  To 
this  conqueror  the  Jews  indeed  ascribed  the  office  of  pro- 
moting religion;  but  the  religion  of  Moses,  corrupted  into 
an  outward  service,  w^as  to  them  the  perfection  of  human 


134 


WILLIAM   ELLERY  CHANNING 


nature.  They  clung  to  its  forms  with  the  whole  energy  of 
their  souls.  To  the  Mosaic  institution  they  ascribed  their  dis- 
tinction from  all  other  nations.  It  lay  at  the  foundation  of 
their  hopes  of  dominion.  I  believe  no  strength  of  prejudice 
ever  equalled  the  intense  attachment  of  the  Jew  to  his 
peculiar  national  religion.  You  may  judge  of  its  power  by 
the  fact  of  its  having  been  transmitted  through  so  many  ages, 
amidst  persecution  and  sufferings  which  would  have  subdued 
any  spirit  but  that  of  a  Jew.  You  must  bring  these  things  to 
your  mind.  You  must  place  yourselves  in  the  midst  of  this 
singular  people. 

Among  this  singular  people,  burning  with  impatient 
expectation,  appeared  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  His  first  words 
were,  "Repent,  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand.'^ 
These  words  we  hear  with  little  emotion;  but  to  the  Jews, 
who  had  been  watching  for  this  kingdom  for  ages,  and  who 
were  looking  for  its  immediate  manifestation,  they  must  have 
been  awakening  as  an  earthquake.  Accordingly  we  find 
Jesus  thronged  by  multitudes  which  no  building  could  con- 
tain. He  repairs  to  a  mountain,  as  affording  him  advantages 
for  addressing  the  crowd.  I  see  them  surrounding  him  with 
eager  looks,  and  ready  to  drink  in  every  word  from  his  lips. 
And  what  do  I  hear?  JN^ot  one  word  of  Judea,  of  Rome,  of 
freedom,  of  conquest,  of  the  glories  of  God's  chosen  people, 
and  of  the  thronging  of  all  nations  to  the  temple  on  Mount 
Zion. 

Almost  every  word  was  a  death-blow  to  the  hopes  and 
feelings  which  glowed  through  the  whole  people,  and  were 
consecrated  under  the  name  of  religion.  He  speaks  of  the 
long-expected  kingdom  of  heaven;  but  speaks  of  it  as  a 
felicity  promised  to,  and  only  to  be  partaken  of  by,  the  humble 
and  pure  in  heart.    The  righteousness  of  the  Pharisees,  that 


CHARACTER  OF  CHRIST 


135 


which  was  deemed  the  perfection  of  religion,  and  which  tho 
new  deliverer  was  expected  to  spread  far  and  wide,  he  pro- 
nounces worthless,  and  declares  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  or 
of  the  Messiah,  to  be  shut  against  all  who  do  not  cultivate  a 
new,  spiritual,  and  disinterested  virtue. 

Instead  of  war  and  victory  he  commands  his  impatient 
hearers  to  love,  to  forgive,  to  bless  their  enemies;  and  holds 
forth  this  spirit  of  benignity,  mercy,  peace,  as  the  special 
badge  of  the  people  of  the  true  Messiah.  Instead  of  national 
interests  and  glories,  he  commands  them  to  seek  first  a  spirit 
of  impartial  charity  and  love,  unconfined  by  the  bounds  of 
tribe  or  nation,  and  proclaims  this  to  be  the  happiness  and 
honor  of  the  reign  for  which  they  hoped.  Instead  of  this 
world's  riches,  which  they  expected  to  flow  from  all  lands  into 
their  own,  he  commands  them  to  lay  up  treasures  in  heaven, 
and  directs  them  to  an  incorruptible,  immortal  life,  as  the 
true  end  of  their  being. 

Nor  is  this  all.  He  does  not  merely  offer  himself  as  a 
spiritual  deliverer,  as  the  founder  of  a  new  empire  of  inward 
piety  and  universal  charity;  he  closes  with  language  announc- 
ing a  more  mysterious  office.  "  Many  will  say  unto  me  in 
that  day,  Lord,  Lord,  have  we  not  prophesied  in  thy  name? 
and  in  thy  name  done  many  wonderful  works?  And  then 
will  I  profess  unto  them,  I  never  knew  you ;  depart  from  me, 
ye  that  work  iniquity."  Here  I  meet  the  annunciation  of  a 
character  as  august  as  it  must  have  been  startling.  I  hear 
him  foretelling  a  dominion  to  be  exercised  in  the  future 
world.  He  begins  to  announce,  what  entered  largely  into 
his  future  teaching,  that  his  power  was  not  bounded  to  this 
earth.  These  words  I  better  understand  w^hen  I  hear  him 
subsequently  declaring  that,  after  a  painful  death,  he  was  to 
rise  again  and  ascend  to  heaven,  and  there,  in  a  state  of  pre- 


136 


WILLIAM  ELLERT  CHANNING 


eminent  power  and  glory,  was  to  be  the  advocate  and  judge 
of  the  human  race. 

Such  are  some  of  the  views  given  by  Jesus,  of  his  charac- 
ter and  reign,  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  Immediately 
afterwards  I  hear  another  lesson  from  him,  bringing  out 
some  of  these  truths  still  more  strongly.  A  Roman  centurion 
makes  application  to  him  for  the  cure  of  a  servant  whom  he 
particularly  valued;  and  on  expressing,  in  a  strong  manner, 
his  conviction  of  the  power  of  Jesus  to  heal  at  a  distance, 
Jesus,  according  to  the  historian,  marvelled,  and  said  to 
those  that  followed.  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  I  have  not  found 
so  great  faith  in  Israel ;  and  I  say  unto  you,  that  many  shall 
come  from  the  east  and  west,  and  shall  sit  down  with  Abra- 
ham, and  Isaac,  and  Jacob  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven;  but 
the  children  of  the  kingdom  "  (that  is,  the  Jews)  "  shall  be 
cast  out." 

Here  all  the  hopes  which  the  Jews  had  cherished  of  an 
exclusive  or  peculiar  possession  of  the  Messiah's  kingdom 
were  crushed;  and  the  reception  of  the  despised  Gentile 
world  to  all  his  blessings,  or,  in  other  words,  the  extension 
of  his  pure  religion  to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  began  to  be 
proclaimed. 

Here  I  pause  for  the  present,  and  I  ask  you  whether  the 
character  of  Jesus  be  not  the  most  extraordinary  in  history, 
and  wholly  inexplicable  on  human  principles.  Review  the 
ground  over  which  we  have  gone.  Recollect  that  he  was 
born  and  grew  up  a  Jew  in  the  midst  of  Jews,  a  people 
burning  with  one  passion,  and  throwing  their  whole  souls 
into  the  expectation  of  a  national  and  earthly  deliverer.  He 
grew  up  among  them  in  poverty,  seclusion,  and  labors  fitted 
to  contract  his  thoughts,  purposes,  and  hopes;  and  yet  we 
find  him  escaping  every  influence  of  education  and  society. 


CHARACTER  OF  CHRIST 


137 


We  find  him  as  untouched  by  the  feelings  which  prevailed 
universally  around  him,  which  religion  and  patriotism  con- 
curred to  consecrate,  which  the  mother  breathed  into  the  ear 
of  the  child,  and  which  the  teacher  of  the  synagogue 
strengthened  in  the  adult,  as  if  he  had  been  brought  up  in 
another  world.  We  find  him  conceiving  a  sublime  purpose, 
such  as  had  never  dawned  on  sage  or  hero,  and  see  him  pos- 
sessed with  a  consciousness  of  sustaining  a  relation  to  God 
and  mankind,  and  of  being  invested  with  powers  in  this 
world  and  the  world  to  come,  such  as  had  never  entered  the 
human  mind.  Whence  now,  I  ask,  came  the  conception  of 
this  character  ? 

Will  any  say  it  had  its  origin  in  imposture ;  that  it  was  a 
fabrication  of  a  deceiver  ?  I  answer,  the  character  claimed 
by  Christ  excludes  this  supposition  by  its  very  nature.  It 
was  so  remote  from  all  the  ideas  and  anticipations  of  the 
times,  so  unfit  to  awaken  sympathy,  so  unattractive  to  the 
heathen,  so  exasperating  to  the  Jew,  that  it  was  the  last  to 
enter  the  mind  of  an  impostor.  A  deceiver  of  the  dullest 
vision  must  have  foreseen  that  it  would  expose  him  to  bitter 
scorn,  abhorrence,  and  persecution,  and  that  he  would  be 
left  to  carry  on  his  work  alone,  just  as  Jesus  always  stood 
alone  and  could  find  not  an  individual  to  enter  into  his  spirit 
and  design.  What  allurements  an  unprincipled,  self-seeking 
man  could  find  to  such  an  enterprise,  no  common  ingenuity 
can  discover. 

I  affirm  next  that  the  sublimity  of  the  character  claimed 
by  Christ  forbids  us  to  trace  it  to  imposture.  That  a  selfish, 
designing,  depraved  mind  could  have  formed  the  idea  and 
purpose  of  a  work  unparalleled  in  beneficence,  in  vastness, 
and  in  moral  grandeur,  would  certainly  be  a  strange  depart- 
ure from  the  laws  of  the  human  mind.    I  add,  that  if  an 


138 


WILLIAM   ELLERY  CHANNING 


impostor  could  have  lighted  on  the  conception  of  so  sublime 
and  wonderful  a  work  as  that  claimed  by  J esus,  he  could  not, 
I  say,  he  could  not  have  thrown  into  his  personation  of  it  the 
air  of  truth  and  reality.  The  part  would  have  been  too 
high  for  him.  He  would  have  overacted  it  or  fallen  short 
of  it  perpetually.  His  true  character  would  have  rebelled 
against  his  assumed  one.  We  should  have  seen  something 
strained,  forced,  artificial,  awkward,  showing  that  he  was  not 
in  his  true  sphere.  To  act  up  to  a  character  so  singular  and 
grand,  and  one  for  which  no  precedent  could  be  found,  seems 
to  me  utterly  impossible  for  a  man  who  had  not  the  true 
spirit  of  it,  or  who  was  only  wearing  it  as  a  mask. 

l^ow,  how  stands  the  case  with  Jesus  ?  Bred  a  Jewish 
peasant  or  carpenter,  he  issues  from  obscurity,  and  claims 
for  himself  a  divine  ofiice,  a  superhuman  dignity,  such  as 
had  not  been  imagined ;  and  in  no  instance  does  he  fall  below 
the  character.  The  peasant,  and  still  more  the  Jew,  wholly 
disappears. 

We  feel  that  a  new  being,  of  a  new  order  of  mind,  is  taking 
a  part  in  human  affairs.  There  is  a  native  tone  of  grandeur 
and  authority  in  his  teaching.  He  speaks  as  a  being  related 
to  the  whole  human  race.  His  mind  never  shrinks  within 
the  ordinary  limits  of  human  agency.  A  narrower  sphere 
than  the  world  never  enters  his  thoughts.  He  speaks  in  a 
natural,  spontaneous  style,  of  accomplishing  the  most  ardu- 
ous and  important  change  in  human  affairs.  This  unlabored 
manner  of  expressing  great  thoughts  is  particularly  worthy 
of  attention.  You  never  hear  from  Jesus  that  swelling,  pom- 
pous, ostentatious  language,  which  almost  necessarily  springs 
from  an  attempt  to  sustain  a  character  above  our  powers. 
He  talks  of  his  glories  as  one  to  whom  they  were  familiar, 
and  of  his  intimacy  and  oneness  with  God  as  simply  as  a 


CHARACTER  OF  CHRIST 


139 


child  speaks  of  his  connection  with  his  parents.  He  speaks 
of  saving  and  judging  the  world,  of  drawing  all  men  to  him- 
self, and  of  giving  everlasting  life,  as  we  speak  of  the  ordi- 
nary powers  which  we  exert.  He  makes  no  set  harangues 
about  the  grandeur  of  his  office  and  character.  His  con- 
sciousness of  it  gives  a  hue  to  his  whole  language,  breaks  out 
in  indirect,  undesigned  expressions,  showing  that  it  was  the 
deepest  and  most  familiar  of  his  convictions  ? 

This  argument  is  only  to  be  understood  by  reading  the 
Gospels  with  a  wakeful  mind  and  heart.  It  does  not  lie  on 
their  surface,  and  it  is  the  stronger  for  lying  beneath  it. 
When  I  read  these  books  with  care,  when  I  trace  the  unaf- 
fected majesty  which  runs  through  the  life  of  Jesus,  and  see 
him  never  falling  below  his  sublime  claims  amidst  poverty, 
and  scorn,  and  in  his  last  agony,  I  have  a  feeling  of  the 
reality  of  his  character  which  I  cannot  express.  I  feel  that 
the  Jewish  carpenter  could  no  more  have  conceived  and  sus- 
tained this  character  under  motives  of  imposture  than  an 
infant's  arm  could  repeat  the  deeds  of  Hercules,  or  his 
unawakened  intellect  comprehend  and  rival  the  matchless 
works  of  genius. 

Am  I  told  that  the  claims  of  Jesus  had  their  origin  not  in 
imposture,  but  in  enthusiasm;  that  the  imagination,  kindled 
by  strong  feeling,  overpowered  the  judgment  so  far  as  to 
give  him  the  notion  of  being  destined  to  some  strange  and 
unparalleled  work  ?  I  know  that  enthusiasm,  or  a  kindled 
imagination,  has  great  power;  and  we  are  never  to  lose 
sight  of  it,  in  judging  of  the  claims  of  religious  teachers. 
But  I  say  first,  that,  except  in  cases  where  it  amounts  to 
insanity,  enthusiasm  works,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree, 
according  to  a  man's  previous  conceptions  and  modes  of 
thought. 


140  WILLIAM   ELLERY  CHANNING 

In  Jiidea,  where  the  minds  of  men  were  burning  with 
feverish  expectation  of  a  Messiah,  I  can  easily  conceive  of  a 
Jew  imagining  that  in  himself  this  ardent  conception,  this 
ideal  of  fi^lory,  was  to  be  realized.  I  can  conceive  of  his  seat- 
ing himself  in  fancy  on  the  throne  of  David,  and  secretly 
pondering  the  means  of  his  appointed  triumphs.  But  that  a 
Jew  should  fancy  himself  the  Messiah,  and  at  the  same  time 
should  strip  that  character  of  all  the  attributes  which  had 
fired  his  youthful  imagination  and  heart  —  that  he  should 
start  aside  from  all  the  feelings  and  hopes  of  his  age,  and 
should  acquire  a  consciousness  of  being  destined  to  a  wholly 
new  career,  and  one  as  unbounded  as  it  was  new,  this  is 
exceedingly  improbable;  and  one  thing  is  certain,  that  an 
imagination  so  erratic,  so  ungoverned,  and  able  to  generate 
the  conviction  of  being  destined  to  a  work  so  immeasurably 
disproportioned  to  the  power  of  the  individual,  must  have 
partaken  of  insanity. 

l^owy  is  it  conceivable  that  an  individual,  mastered  by  so 
wild  and  fervid  an  imagination,  should  have  sustained  the 
dignity  claimed  by  Christ,  should  have  acted  worthily  the 
highest  part  ever  assumed  on  earth  ?  Would  not  his  enthusi- 
asm have  broken  out  amidst  the  peculiar  excitements  of  the 
life  of  Jesus,  and  have  left  a  touch  of  madness  on  his  teaching 
and  conduct  ?  Is  it  to  such  a  man  that  we  should  look  for 
the  inculcation  of  a  new  and  perfect  form  of  virtue,  and  for 
the  exemplification  of  humanity  in  its  fairest  form  ? 

The  charge  of  an  extravagant,  self-deluding  enthusiasm 
is  the  last  to  be  fastened  on  Jesus.  Where  can  we  find  the 
traces  of  it  in  his  history?  Do  we  detect  them  in  the  calm 
authority  of  his  precepts ;  in  the  mild,  practical,  and  benefi- 
cent spirit  of  his  religion;  in  the  unlabored  simplicity  of 
the  language  with  which  he  unfolds  his  high  powers  and 


CHARACTER  OF  CHRIST 


141 


the  sublime  truths  of  religion;  or  in  the  good  sense,  the 
knowledge  of  human  nature,  which  he  always  discovers  in 
his  estimate  and  treatment  of  the  different  classes  of  men 
with  whom  he  acted  ?  Do  we  discover  this  enthusiasm  in 
the  singular  fact  that,  whilst  he  claimed  power  in  the  future 
world,  and  always  turned  men's  minds  to  Heaven,  he  never 
indulged  his  own  imagination  or  stimulated  that  of  his  dis- 
ciples by  giving  vivid  pictures  or  any  minute  description  of 
that  unseen  state  ? 

The  truth  is,  that,  remarkable  as  was  the  character  of 
Jesus,  it  was  distinguished  by  nothing  more  than  by  calm- 
ness and  self-possession.  This  trait  pervades  his  other  excel- 
lences. How  calm  was  his  piety !  Point  me,  if  you  can,  to 
one  vehement,  passionate  expression  of  his  religious  feelings. 
Does  the  Lord's  Prayer  breathe  a  feverish  enthusiasm  ?  The 
habitual  style  of  Jesus  on  the  subject  of  religion,  if  intro- 
duced into  many  churches  of  his  followers  at  the  present  day, 
would  be  charged  with  coldness.  The  calm  and  the  rational 
character  of  his  piety  is  particularly  seen  in  the  doctrine 
which  he  so  earnestly  inculcates,  that  disinterested  love  and 
self-denying  service  to  our  fellow  creatures  are  the  most 
acceptable  worship  we  can  offer  to  our  Creator. 

His  benevolence,  too,  though  singularly  earnest  and  deep, 
was  composed  and  serene.  He  never  lost  the  possession  of 
himself  in  his  sympathy  with  others ;  was  never  hurried  into 
the  impatient  and  rash  enterprises  of  an  enthusiastic  philan- 
thropy; but  did  good  with  the  tranquillity  and  constancy 
which  mark  the  providence  of  God.  The  depth  of  his  calm- 
ness may  best  be  understood  by  considering  the  opposition 
made  to  his  claims. 

His  labors  were  everywhere  insidiously  watched  and  indus- 
triously thwarted  by  vindictive  foes  who  had  even  conspired 


142 


WILLIAM  ELLERY  OHANNING 


to  compass,  through  his  death,  the  ruin  of  his  cause.  ITow,  a 
feverish  enthusiasm  which  fancies  itself  to  be  intrusted  with 
a  great  work  of  God  is  singularly  liable  to  impatient  indig- 
nation under  furious  and  malignant  opposition.  Obstacles 
increase  its  vehemence;  it  becomes  more  eager  and  hurried 
in  the  accomplishment  of  its  purposes,  in  proportion  as  they 
are  withstood. 

Be  it  therefore  remembered  that  the  malignity  of  Christ's 
foes,  though  never  surpassed,  and  for  the  time  triumphant, 
never  robbed  him  of  self-possession,  roused  no  passion,  and 
threw  no  vehemence  or  precipitation  into  his  exertions.  He 
did  not  disguise  from  himself  or  his  followers  the  impression 
made  on  the  multitude  by  his  adversaries.  He  distinctly 
foresaw  the  violent  death  towards  which  he  was  fast 
approaching.  Yet,  confiding  in  God  and  in  the  silent  pro- 
gress of  his  truth,  he  possessed  his  soul  in  peace.  Not  only 
was  he  calm,  but  his  calmness  rises  into  sublimity  when  we 
consider  the  storms  which  raged  around  him  and  the  vast- 
ness  of  the  prospects  in  which  his  spirit  found  repose.  I  say 
then  that  serenity  and  self-possession  were  peculiarly  the 
attributes  of  Jesus.  I  affirm  that  the  singular  and  sublime 
character  claimed  by  Jesus  can  be  traced  neither  to  imposture, 
nor  to  an  ungoverned,  insane  imagination.  It  can  only  be 
accounted  for  by  its  truth,  its  reality. 

I  began  with  observing  how  our  long  familiarity  with 
Jesus  blunts  our  minds  to  his  singular  excellence.  We 
probably  have  often  read  of  the  character  which  he  claimed, 
without  a  thought  of  its  extraordinary  nature.  But  I  know 
nothing  so  sublime.  The  plans  and  labors  of  statesmen  sink 
into  the  sports  of  children  when  compared  with  the  work 
which  Jesus  announced,  and  to  which  he  devoted  himself  in 
life  and  death  with  a  thorough  consciousness  of  its  reality. 


CHARACTER  OF  CHRIST 


143 


The  idea  of  changing  the  moral  aspect  of  the  whole  earth, 
of  recovering  all  nations  to  the  pure  and  inward  worship  of 
one  God  and  to  a  spirit  of  divine  and  fraternal  love,  was 
one  of  which  we  meet  not  a  trace  in  philosopher  or  legislator 
before  him.  The  human  mind  had  given  no  promise  of  this 
extent  of  view.  The  conception  of  this  enterprise,  and  the 
calm,  unshaken  expectation  of  success  in  one  who  had  no 
station  and  no  wealth,  who  cast  from  him  the  sword  with 
abhorrence,  and  who  forbade  his  disciples  to  use  any  weapons 
but  those  of  love,  discover  a  wonderful  trust  in  the  power 
of  God  and  the  power  of  love ;  and  when  to  this  we  add  that 
Jesus  looked  not  only  to  the  triumph  of  his  pure  faith  in 
the  present  world,  but  to  a  mighty  and  beneficent  power  in 
Heaven,  we  witness  a  vastness  of  purpose,  a  grandeur  of 
thought  and  feeling  so  original,  so  superior  to  the  workings 
of  all  other  minds,  that  nothing  but  our  familiarity  can  pre- 
vent our  contemplation  of  it  with  wonder  and  profound  awe. 

I  confess,  when  I  can  escape  the  deadening  power  of  habit, 
and  can  receive  the  full  import  of  such  passages  as  the  fol- 
lowing :  —  ^'  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy 
laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest,''  —  I  am  come  to  seek  and 
to  save  that  which  was  lost,''  —  He  that  confesseth  mo 
before  men,  him  will  I  confess  before  my  Father  in  Heaven," 

—  ^'  Whosoever  shall  be  ashamed  of  me  before  men,  of  him 
shall  the  Son  of  Man  be  ashamed  when  he  cometh  in  the 
glory  of  the  Father  with  the  holy  angels," —  "  In  my  Father's 
house  are  many  mansions ;  1  go  to  prepare  a 'place  for  you:  " 

—  I  say,  when  I  can  succeed  in  realizing  the  import  of  such 
passages,  I  feel  myself  listening  to  a  being  such  as  never 
before  and  never  since  spoke  in  human  language.  I  am 
awed  by  the  consciousness  of  greatness  which  these  simple 
words  express;  and  when  I  connect  this  greatness  with  the 


144  WILLIAM   ELLEEY  OHANNING 

proofs  of  Christ's  miracles  which  I  gave  you  in  a  former  dis- 
course, I  am  compelled  to  exclaim  with  the  centurion, 
"Truly,  this  was  the  Son  of  God." 

I  have  thus,  my  friends,  set  before  you  one  view  of  Jesus 
Christ,  which  shows  him  to  have  been  the  most  extraordinary 
being  who  ever  lived.  I  invite  your  attention  to  another,  and 
I  am  not  sure  but  that  it  is  still  more  striking.  You  have 
seen  the  consciousness  of  greatness  which  Jesus  possessed; 
I  now  ask  you  to  consider  how,  with  this  consciousness,  he 
lived  among  men. 

To  convey  my  meaning  more  distinctly,  let  me  avail  myself 
of  an  imaginary  case.  Suppose  you  had  never  heard  the  par- 
ticulars of  Christ's  history,  but  were  told  in  general  that, 
ages  ago,  an  extraordinary  man  appeared  in  the  world,  whose 
mind  was  wholly  possessed  with  the  idea  of  having  come 
from  God,  who  regarded  himself  as  clothed  with  divine  power 
and  charged  with  the  sublimest  work  in  the  universe,  who 
had  the  consciousness  of  sustaining  a  relation  of  unexampled 
authority  and  beneficence,  not  to  one  nation  or  age,  but  to  all 
nations  and  all  times,  and  who  anticipated  a  spiritual  king- 
dom and  everlasting  power  beyond  the  grave. 

Suppose  you  should  be  told  that,  on  entering  the  world,  he 
found  not  one  mind  able  to  comprehend  his  views,  and  felt 
himself  immeasurably  exalted  in  thought  and  purpose  above 
all  around  him ;  and  suppose  you  should  then  be  asked  what 
appearance,  what  mode  of  life,  what  tone,  what  air,  what 
deportment,  what  intercourse  with  the  multitude  seemed  to 
you  to  suit  such  a  character,  and  were  probably  adopted  by 
him ;  how  would  you  represent  him  to  your  minds  ? 

Would  you  not  suppose  that,  with  this  peculiar  character, 
he  adopted  some  peculiar  mode  of  life,  expressive  of  his 
superiority  to  and  separation  from  all  other  men?  Would 


CHARACTER  OF  CHRIST 


145 


you  not  expect  something  distinctive  in  his  appearance? 
Would  you  not  expect  him  to  assume  some  badge  and  to 
exact  some  homage?  Would  you  not  expect  that,  with  a 
mind  revolving  such  vast  thoughts,  and  raised  above  the  earth, 
he  would  look  coldly  on  the  ordinary  gratifications  of  men? 
that,  with  a  mind  spreading  itself  over  the  world  and  medi- 
tating its  subjection  to  his  truth,  he  would  take  little  interest 
in  ordinary  individuals?  and  that  possessing,  in  his  own  doc- 
trine and  character,  a  standard  of  sublime  virtue,  he  would 
attach  little  importance  to  the  low  attainments  of  the  ignorant 
and  superstitious  around  him?  Would  you  not  make  him  a 
public  character  and  expect  to  see  him  laboring  to  establish 
his  ascendancy  among  public  men?  Would  you  not  expect 
to  see  his  natural  affections  absorbed  in  his  universal  philan- 
thropy; and  would  not  private  attachments  seem  to  you  quite 
inconsistent  with  his  vast  superiority  and  the  immensity  of 
his  purposes?  Would  you  not  expect  him  to  avail  himself 
of  the  best  accommodations  the  world  could  afford?  Would 
you  not  expect  the  great  Teacher  to  select  the  most  sacred 
spots  for  his  teaching,  and  the  Lord  of  all  to  erect  some  con- 
spicuous seat  from  which  should  go  forth  the  laws  which 
were  to  reach  the  ends  of  the  earth?  Would  you  not,  in  a 
word,  expect  this  extraordinary  personage  to  surround  himself 
with  extraordinary  circumstances,  and  to  maintain  a  sepa- 
ration from  the  degraded  multitude  around  him? 

Such,  I  believe,  would  be  the  expectation  of  us  all;  and 
what  was  the  case  with  Jesus?  Read  his  history.  He  comes 
with  the  consciousness  of  more  than  human  greatness,  to 
accomplish  an  infinite  work,  and  where  do  you  find  him? 
What  is  his  look?  what  his  manner?  How  does  he  converse, 
how  live  with  men  ?  His  appearance,  mode  of  life,  and  inter- 
course are  directly  the  reverse  of  what  we  should  have  sup- 

Vol.  5—10 


146 


WILLIAM  ELLERY  CHANNING 


posed.  He  comes  in  the  ordinary  dress  of  the  class  of  society 
in  which  he  had  grown  up.  He  retreats  to  no  solitude,  like 
John,  to  strike  awe,  nor  seeks  any  spot  which  had  been  con- 
secrated in  Jewish  history.  Would  you  find  him  ?  Go  to  the 
house  of  Peter,  the  fisherman.  Go  to  the  well  of  Samaria, 
where  he  rests  after  the  fatigues  of  his  journey.  Would  you 
hear  him  teach?  You  may  find  him,  indeed,  sometimes  in 
the  temple,  for  that  was  a  place  of  general  resort;  but  com- 
monly you  may  find  him  instructing  in  the  open  air,  now  from 
a  boat  on  the  Galilean  lake,  now  on  a  mount,  and  now  in 
the  streets  of  the  crowded  city.  He  has  no  place  wherein 
to  lay  his  head,  nor  will  he  have  one.  A  rich  ruler  comes 
and  falls  at  his  feet.  He  says,  "  Go,  sell  what  thou  hast  and 
give  to  the  poor,  and  then  come  and  follow  me." 

Nor  was  this  all.  Something  more  striking  remains  to  be 
told.  He  did  not  merely  live  in  the  streets  and  in  the  houses 
of  fishermen.  In  these  places,  had  he  pleased,  he  might  have 
cleared  a  space  around  him,  and  raised  a  barrier  between 
himself  and  others.  But  in  these  places  and  everywhere  he 
lived  with  men  as  a  man,  a  brother,  a  friend,  sometimes  a 
servant;  and  entered,  with  a  deep,  unexampled  sympathy, 
into  the  feelings,  interests,  wants,  sorrows  of  individuals,  of 
ordinary  men,  and  even  of  the  most  depressed,  despised,  and 
forsaken  of  the  race. 

Here  is  the  most  striking  view  of  Jesus.  This  combina- 
tion of  the  spirit  of  humanity,  in  its  lowliest,  tenderest  form, 
with  the  consciousness  of  unrivalled  and  divine  glories,  is 
the  most  wonderful  distinction  of  this  wonderful  character. 
Here  we  learn  the  chief  reason  why  he  chose  poverty  and 
refused  every  peculiarity  of  manner  and  appearance.  He 
did  this  because  he  desired  to  come  near  to  the  multitude 
of  men,  to  make  himself  accessible  to  all,  to  pour  out  the 


CHARACTER  OF  CHRIST 


147 


fullness  of  his  sympathy  upon  all,  to  know  and  weep  over 
their  sorrows  and  sins,  and  to  manifest  his  interest  in  their 
affections  and  joys. 

I  can  offer  but  a  few  instances  of  this  sympathy  of  Christ 
with  human  nature  in  all  its  varieties  of  character  and  con- 
dition. But  how  beautiful  are  they!  At  the  very  opening 
of  his  ministry  we  find  him  present  at  a  marriage  to  which 
he  and  his  disciples  had  been  called.  Among  the  Jews  this 
was  an  occasion  of  peculiar  exhilaration  and  festivity;  but 
Jesus  did  not  therefore  decline  it.  He  knew  what  affections, 
joys,  sorrows,  and  moral  influences  are  bound  up  in  this 
institution,  and  he  went  to  the  celebration,  not  as  an  ascetic, 
to  frown  on  its  bright  hopes  and  warm  congratulations,  but 
to  sanction  it  by  his  presence  and  to  heighten  its  enjoyments. 

How  little  does  this  comport  with  the  solitary  dignity 
which  we  should  have  pronounced  most  accordant  with  his 
character,  and  what  a  spirit  of  humanity  does  it  breathe! 
But  this  event  stands  almost  alone  in  his  history.  His  chief 
sympathy  was  not  with  them  that  rejoice,  but  with  the 
ignorant,  sinful,  sorrowful;  and  with  these  we  find  him  culti- 
vating an  habitual  intimacy.  Though  so  exalted  in  thought 
and  purpose,  he  chose  uneducated  men  to  be  his  chief  dis- 
ciples; and  he  lived  with  them,  not  as  a  superior,  giving 
occasional  and  formal  instruction,  but  became  their  com- 
panion, travelled  with  them  on  foot,  slept  in  their  dwellings, 
sat  at  their  tables,  partook  of  their  plain  fare,  communicated 
to  them  his  truth  in  the  simplest  form ;  and  though  they  con- 
stantly misunderstood  him  and  never  perceived  his  full 
meaning  he  was  never  wearied  with  teaching  them. 

So  familiar  was  his  intercourse  that  we  find  Peter  reprov- 
ing him  with  an  affectionate  zeal  for  announcing  his  approach- 
ing death,  and  we  find  John  leaning  on  his  bosom.    Of  his 


148 


WILLIAM  ELLERT  CHANNING 


last  discourse  to  these  disciples  I  need  not  speak.  It  stands 
alone  among  all  writings  for  the  union  of  tenderness  and 
majesty.  His  own  sorrows  are  forgotten  in  his  solicitude  to 
speak  peace  and  comfort  to  his  humble  followers. 

The  depth  of  his  human  sympathies  was  beautifully  mani- 
fested when  children  were  brought  him.  His  disciples,  judg- 
ing as  all  men  would  judge,  thought  that  he  who  was  sent  to 
wear  the  crown  of  universal  empire  had  too  great  a  work 
before  him  to  give  his  time  and  attention  to  children,  and 
reproved  the  parents  who  brought  them;  but  Jesus,  rebuking 
his  disciples,  called  to  him  the  children.  Never,  I  believe, 
did  childhood  awaken  such  deep  love  as  at  that  moment.  He 
took  them  in  his  arms  and  blessed  them,  and  not  only  said 
that  "  of  such  was  the  kingdom  of  heaven,''  but  added,  He 
that  receiveth  a  little  child  in  my  name,  receiveth  me;"  so 
entirely  did  he  identify  himself  with  this  primitive,  innocent, 
beautiful  form  of  human  nature. 

There  was  no  class  of  human  beings  so  low  as  to  be  beneath 
his  sympathy.  He  not  merely  taught  the  publican  and  sin- 
ner, but,  with  all  his  consciousness  of  purity,  sat  down  and 
dined  with  them,  and,  when  reproved  by  the  malignant  Phari- 
see for  such  companionship,  answered  by  the  touching  parables 
of  the  Lost  Sheep  and  the  Prodigal  Son,  and  said,  '^I  am 
come  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was  lost." 

'No  personal  suffering  dried  up  this  fountain  of  love  in  his 
breast.  On  his  way  to  the  cross  he  heard  some  women  of 
Jerusalem  bewailing  him,  and  at  the  sound,  forgetting  his 
own  grief,  he  turned  to  them  and  said,  "Women  of  Jerusa- 
lem, weep  not  for  me,  but  weep  for  yourselves  and  your  chil- 
dren." On  the  cross,  whilst  his  mind  was  divided  between 
intense  suffering  and  the  contemplation  of  the  infinite  bless- 
ings in  which  his  sufferings  were  to  issue,  his  eye  lighted  on 


CHARACTER  OF  CHRIST 


149 


his  mother  and  John,  and  the  sensibilities  of  a  son  and  a 
friend  mingled  with  the  sublime  consciousness  of  the  uni- 
versal Lord  and  Saviour.  Never  before  did  natural  affection 
find  so  tender  and  beautiful  an  utterance.  To  his  mother  he 
said,  directing  her  to  John,  Behold  thy  son;  I  leave  my 
beloved  disciple  to  take  my  place,  to  perform  my  filial  offices, 
and  to  enjoy  a  share  of  that  affection  with  which  you  have 
followed  me  through  life;"  and  to  John  he  said,  ''Behold 
thy  mother;  I  bequeath  to  you  the  happiness  of  ministering  to 
my  dearest  earthly  friend."  Nor  is  this  all.  The  spirit  of 
humanity  had  one  higher  triumph.  Whilst  his  enemies  sur- 
rounded him  with  a  malignity  unsoftened  by  his  last  agonies, 
and,  to  give  the  keenest  edge  to  insult,  reminded  him  scof- 
fingly  of  the  high  character  and  office  which  he  had  claimed, 
his  only  notice  of  them  was  the  prayer,  "  Father,  forgive  them, 
they  know  not  what  they  do." 

Thus  Jesus  lived  with  men;  with  the  consciousness  of 
unutterable  majesty  he  joined  a  lowliness,  gentleness,  human- 
ity, and  sympathy,  which  have  no  example  in  human  history. 
I  ask  you  to  contemplate  this  wonderful  union.  In  propor- 
tion to  the  superiority  of  Jesus  to  all  around  him  was  the 
intimacy,  the  brotherly  love,  with  which  he  bound  himself  to 
them.  I  maintain  that  this  is  a  character  wholly  remote 
from  human  conception.  To  imagine  it  to  be  the  production 
of  imposture  or  enthusiasm  shows  a  strange  unsoundness  of 
mind.  I  contemplate  it  with  a  veneration  second  only  to  the 
profound  awe  with  which  I  look  up  to  God.  It  bears  no  mark 
of  human  invention.  It  was  real.  It  belonged  to  and  it 
manifested  the  beloved  Son  of  God. 

But  I  have  not  done.  May  I  ask  your  attention  a  few 
moments  more?  We  have  not  yet  reached  the  depth  of 
Christ's  character.    We  have  not  touched  the  great  principle 


150 


WILLIAM  ELLERY  CHANNING 


on  which  his  wonderful  sympathy  was  founded,  and  which 
endeared  to  him  his  office  of  universal  Saviour.  Do  you  ask 
what  this  deep  principle  was  ?  I  answer,  it  was  his  conviction 
of  the  greatness  of  the  human  soul.  He  saw  in  man  the 
impress  and  image  of  the  divinity,  and  therefore  thirsted  for 
his  redemption,  and  took  the  tenderest  interest  in  him,  what- 
ever might  be  the  rank,  character,  or  condition  in  which  he 
was  found.  This  spiritual  view  of  man  pervades  and  dis- 
tinguishes the  teaching  of  Christ. 

Jesus  looked  on  men  with  an  eye  which  pierced  beneath  the 
material  frame.  The  body  vanished  before  him.  The  trap- 
pings of  the  rich,  the  rags  of  the  poor,  were  nothing  to  him. 
He  looked  through  them,  as  though  they  did  not  exist,  to  the 
soul;  and  there,  amidst  clouds  of  ignorance  and  plague-spots 
of  sin,  he  recognized  a  spiritual  and  immortal  nature,  and 
the  germs  of  power  and  perfection  which  might  be  unfolded 
forever.  In  the  most  fallen  and  depraved  man  he  saw  a 
being  who  might  become  an  angel  of  light. 

Still  more,  he  felt  that  there  was  nothing  in  himself  to 
which  men  might  not  ascend.  His  own  lofty  consciousness 
did  not  sever  him  from  the  multitude;  for  he  saw  in  his  own 
greatness  the  model  of  what  men  might  become.  So  deeply 
was  he  thus  impressed  that,  again  and  again,  in  speaking  of 
his  future  glories,  he  announced  that  in  these  his  true  follow- 
ers were  to  share.  They  were  to  sit  on  his  throne  and  partake 
of  his  beneficent  power. 

Here  I  pause,  and  indeed  I  know  not  what  can  be  added 
to  heighten  the  wonder,  reverence,  and  love  which  are  due 
to  Jesus.  When  I  consider  him,  not  only  as  possessed  with 
the  consciousness  of  an  unexampled  and  unbounded  majesty, 
but  as  recognizing  a  kindred  nature  in  human  beings,  and 
living  and  dying  to  raise  them  to  a  participation  of  his  divine 


CHARACTER  OF  CHRIST 


151 


glories;  and  when  I  see  him  under  these  views  allying  him- 
self to  men  by  the  tenderest  ties,  embracing  them  with  a 
spirit  of  humanity  which  no  insult,  injury,  or  pain  could  for 
a  moment  repel  or  overpower,  I  am  filled  with  wonder  as  well 
as  reverence  and  love.  I  feel  that  this  character  is  not  of 
human  invention,  that  it  was  not  assumed  through  fraud,  or 
struck  out  by  enthusiasm ;  for  it  is  infinitely  above  their  reach. 
When  I  add  this  character  of  Jesus  to  the  other  evidences  of 
his  religion,  it  gives  to  what  before  seemed  so  strong  a  new 
and  a  vast  accession  of  strength;  I  feel  as  if  I  could  not  be 
deceived. 

The  Gospels  must  be  true;  they  were  drawn  from  a  living 
original;  they  were  founded  on  reality.  The  character  of 
Jesus  is  not  a  fiction ;  he  was  what  he  claimed  to  be,  and  what 
his  followers  attested.  Nor  is  this  all.  Jesus  not  only  was, 
he  is  still  the  Son  of  God,  the  Saviour  of  the  world.  He 
exists  now;  he  has  entered  that  heaven  to  which  he  always 
looked  forward  on  earth.  There  he  lives  and  reigns.  With 
a  clear,  calm  faith  I  see  him  in  that  state  of  glory;  and  I 
confidently  expect,  at  no  distant  period,  to  see  him  face  to 
face.  We  have  indeed  no  absent  friend  whom  we  shall  so 
surely  meet. 

Let  us  then,  my  hearers,  by  imitation  of  his  virtues  and 
obedience  to  his  word,  prepare  ourselves  to  join  him  in  those 
pure  mansions  where  he  is  surrounding  himself  with  the 
good  and  pure  of  our  race,  and  will  communicate  to  them 
forever  his  own  spirit,  power,  and  joy. 


THOMAS  H.  BENTON 


HOMAS  Hart  Benton,  American  Democratic  statesman,  was  born  at 
Hillsborough,  N.  C,  March  14,  1782,  and  died  at  Washington,  D.  C, 
April  10,  1858.  He  studied  for  a  time  at  the  University  of  North  Caro- 
lina, but  for  his  remarkable  acquirements  he  was  mainly  indebted  to 
the  process  of  self-education,  which  continued  all  his  life.  From  Tennessee,  whither 
his  family  had  removed,  he  passed  to  St.  Louis,  where  for  a  time  he  edited  the 
"Missouri  Enquirer."  In  1820,  he  was  elected  from  Missouri  to  the  United  States 
Senate,  but  thirty  years  afterward  (1850),  he  met  with  defeat.  Two  years  later,  how- 
ever, he  was  elected  to  the  House  of  Representatives.  In  1856,  he  was  an  unsuc- 
cessful candidate  for  Governor  of  the  State  of  Missouri.  As  the  unwavering  advocate 
of  a  gold  and  silver,  or  bullion,  currency  by  the  government,  Benton  is  identified  in 
the  popular  mind  with  a  vital  question  of  public  policy.  He  belongs,  in  the  same 
group  with  Webster,  Clay,  and  Calhoun,  among  the  remarkable  American  statesmen 
of  his  era.  Besides  editing  an  "  Abridgment  of  the  Debates  in  Congress,"  he  wrote 
the  well-known  "Thirty  Years'  View,"  a  history  of  the  working  of  the  American 
Government.    His  life  has  been  written  by  President  Roosevelt. 


ON  THE  EXPUNGING  RESOLUTION 

UNITED  STATES  SENATE.  JANUARY  12.  1837 

Mr,  President  : 

IT  IS  now  three  years  since  the  resolve  was  adopted  by 
the  Senate,  which  it  is  my  present  motion  to  expunge 
from  the  journal.  At  the  moment  that  this  resolve  was 
adopted,  I  gave  notice  of  my  intention  to  move  to  expunge 
it;  and  then  expressed  my  confident  belief  that  the  motion 
*  would  eventually  prevail.  That  expression  of  confidence 
was  not  an  ebullition  of  vanity,  or  a  presumptuous  calcu- 
lation, intended  to  accelerate  the  event  it  affected  to  fore- 
tell. It  was  not  a  vain  boast,  or  an  idle  assumption,  but 
was  the  result  of  a  deep  conviction  of  the  injustice  done 

(152) 


THOMAS  H.  BENTON 


ON  THE   EXPUNGING  RESOLUTION 


153 


President  Jackson,  and  a  thorough  reliance  upon  the  justice 
of  the  American  people.  I  felt  that  the  President  had  been 
wronged;  and  my  heart  told  me  that  this  wrong  would  be 
redressed!  The  event  proves  that  I  was  not  mistaken. 
The  question  of  expunging  this  resolution  has  been  carried 
to  the  people,  and  their  decision  has  been  had  upon  it. 
They  decide  in  favor  of  the  expurgation ;  and  their  decision 
has  been  both  made  and  manifested,  and  communicated  to 
us  in  a  great  variety  of  ways.  A  great  number  of  States 
have  expressly  instructed  their  Senators  to  vote  for  this 
expurgation.  A  very  great  majority  of  the  States  have 
elected  Senators  and  Eepresentatives  to  Congress,  upon  the 
express  ground  of  favoring  this  expurgation.  The  Bank  of 
the  United  States,  which  took  the  initiative  in  the  accusa- 
tion against  the  President,  and  furnished  the  material,  and 
worked  the  machinery  which  was  used  against  him,  and 
which  was  then  so  powerful  on  this  floor,  has  become  more 
and  more  odious  to  the  public  mind,  and  musters  now  but 
a  slender  phalanx  of  friends  in  the  two  Houses  of  Congress. 
The  late  Presidential  election  furnishes  additional  evidence 
of  public  sentiment.  The  candidate  who  was  the  friend  of 
President  Jackson,  the  supporter  of  his  administration,  and 
the  avowed  advocate  for  the  expurgation,  has  received  a 
large  majority  of  the  suffrages  of  the  whole  Union,  and 
that  after  an  express  declaration  of  his  sentiments  on  this 
precise  point.  The  evidence  of  the  public  will,  exhibited 
in  all  these  forms,  is  too  manifest  to  be  mistaken,  too  ex- 
plicit to  require  illustration,  and  too  imperative  to  be  dis- 
regarded. Omitting  details  and  specific  enumeration  of 
proofs,  I  refer  to  our  own  files  for  the  instructions  to  ex- 
punge— to  the  complexion  of  the  two  Houses  for  the  temper 
of  the  people — to  the  denationalized  condition  of  the  Bank 


154 


THOMAS   H.  BENTON 


of  the  United  States  for  the  fate  of  the  imperious  accuser — 
and  to  the  issue  of  the  Presidential  election  for  the  answer 
of  the  Union. 

All  these  are  pregnant  proofs  of  the  public  will,  and 
the  last  pre-eminently  so:  because,  both  the  question  of  the 
expurgation,  and  the  form  of  the  process,  were  directly  put 
in  issue  upon  it.  .  .  . 

Assuming,  then,  that  we  have  ascertained  the  will  of  the 
people  on  this  great  question,  the  inquiry  presents  itself, 
how  far  the  expression  of  that  will  ought  to  be  conclusive 
of  our  action  here.  I  hold  that  it  ought  to  be  binding  and 
obligatory  upon  us;  and  that,  not  only  upon  the  principles 
of  representative  government,  which  require  obedience  to 
the  known  will  of  the  people,  but  also  in  conformity  to  the 
principles  upon  which  the  proceeding  against  President 
Jackson  was  conducted  when  the  sentence  against  him  was 
adopted.  Then  everything  was  done  with  especial  reference 
to  the  will  of  the  people.  Their  impulsion  was  assumed  to 
be  the  sole  motive  to  action;  and  to  them  the  ultimate 
verdict  was  expressly  referred.  The  whole  machinery  of 
alarm  and  pressure — every  engine  of  political  and  moneyed 
power — was  put  in  motion,  and  worked  for  many  months, 
to  excite  the  people  against  the  President;  and  to  stir  up 
meetings,  memorials,  petitions,  travelling  committees,  and 
distress  deputations  against  him;  and  each  symptom  of 
popular  discontent  was  hailed  as  an  evidence  of  public 
will,  and  quoted  here  as  proof  that  the  people  demanded 
the  condemnation  of  the  President.  Not  only  legislative 
assemblies,  and  memorials  from  large  assemblies,  were 
then  produced  here  as  evidence  of  public  opinion,  but  the 
petitions  of  boys  under  age,  the  remonstrances  of  a  few 
signers,  and  the  results  of  the  most  inconsiderable  elections 


ON  THE  EXPUNGING  RESOLUTION 


155 


were  ostentatiously  paraded  and  magnified,  as  the  evidence 
of  the  sovereign  will  of  our  constituents.  Thus,  sir,  the 
public  voice  was  everything,  while  that  voice,  partially 
obtained  through  political  and  pecuniary  machinations,  was 
adverse  to  the  President.  Then  the  popular  will  was  the 
shrine  at  which  all  worshipped.  Now,  when  that  will  is 
regularly,  soberly,  repeatedly,  and  almost  universally  ex- 
pressed through  the  ballot-boxes,  at  the  various  elections, 
and  turns  out  to  be  in  favor  of  the  President,  certainly  no 
one  can  disregard  it,  nor  otherwise  look  at  it  than  as  the 
solemn  verdict  of  the  competent  and  ultimate  tribunal  upon 
an  issue  fairly  made  up,  fully  argued,  and  duly  submitted 
for  decision.  As  such  verdict,  I  receive  it.  As  the  delib- 
erate verdict  of  the  sovereign  people,  I  bow  to  it.  I  am 
content.  I  do  not  mean  to  reopen  the  case  nor  to  recom- 
mence the  argument.  I  leave  that  work  to  others,  if  any 
others  choose  to  perform  it.  For  myself,  I  am  content; 
and,  dispensing  with  further  argument,  I  shall  call  for 
judgment,  and  ask  to  have  execution  done,  upon  that  un- 
happy journal,  which  the  verdict  of  millions  of  freemen 
finds  guilty  of  bearing  on  its  face  an  untrue,  illegal,  and 
unconstitutional  sentence  of  condemnation  against  the  ap- 
proved President  of  the  Kepublic. 

But,  while  declining  to  reopen  the  argument  of  this 
question,  and  refusing  to  tread  over  again  the  ground  al- 
ready traversed,  there  is  another  and  a  different  task  to  per- 
form; one  which  the  approaching  termination  of  President 
Jackson's  administration  makes  peculiarly  proper  at  this 
time,  and  which  it  is  my  privilege,  and  perhaps  my  duty, 
to  execute,  as  being  the  suitable  conclusion  to  the  arduous 
contest  in  which  we  have  been  so  long  engaged.  I  allude 
to  the  general  tenor  of  his  administration,  and  to  its  effect, 


156 


THOMAS  H.  BENTON 


for  good  or  for  evil,  upon  the  condition  of  his  country. 
This  is  the  proper  time  for  such  a  view  to  be  taken.  The 
political  existence  of  this  great  man  now  draws  to  a  close. 
In  little  more  than  forty  days  he  ceases  to  be  an  object  of 
political  hope  to  any,  and  should  cease  to  be  an  object 
of  political  hate,  or  envy,  to  all.  Whatever  of  motive  the 
servile  and  time-serving  might  have  found  in  his  exalted 
station  for  raising  the  altar  of  adulation,  and  burning  the 
incense  of  praise  before  him,  that  motive  can  no  longer 
exist.  The  dispenser  of  the  patronage  of  an  empire,  the 
chief  of  this  great  confederacy  of  States,  is  soon  to  be  a 
private  individual,  stripped  of  all  power  to  reward,  or  to 
punish.  His  own  thoughts,  as  he  has  shown  us  in  the  con- 
cluding paragraph  of  that  message  which  is  to  be  the  last 
of  its  kind  that  we  shall  ever  receive  from  him,  are  directed 
to  that  beloved  retirement  from  which  he  was  drawn  by  the 
voice  of  millions  of  freemen,  and  to  which  he  now  looks  for 
that  interval  of  repose  which  age  and  infirmities  require. 
Under  these  circumstances,  he  ceases  to  be  a  subject  for 
the  ebullition  of  the  passions,  and  passes  into  a  character 
for  the  contemplation  of  history.  Historically,  then,  shall 
I  view  him;  and  limiting  this  view  to  his  civil  administra- 
tion, I  demand,  where  is  there  a  Chief  Magistrate  of  whom 
so  much  evil  has  been  predicted,  and  from  whom  so  much 
good  has  come?  Never  has  any  man  entered  upon  the 
Chief  Magistracy  of  a  country  under  such  appalling  predic- 
tions of  ruin  and  woe  I  never  has  any  one  been  so  pursued 
with  direful  prognostications!  never  has  any  one  been  so 
beset  and  impeded  by  a  powerful  combination  of  politi- 
cal and  moneyed  confederates  I  never  has  any  one  in  any 
country  where  the  administration  of  justice  has  risen  above 
the  knife  or  the  bowstring,  been  so  lawlessly  and  shame- 


ON  THE  EXPUNGING  RESOLUTION 


157 


lessly  tried  and  condemned  by  rivals  and  enemies,  without 
hearing,  without  defence,  without  the  forms  of  law  and 
justice!  History  has  been  ransacked  to  find  examples  of 
tyrants  sufficiently  odious  to  illustrate  him  by  comparison. 
Language  has  been  tortured  to  find  epithets  sufficiently 
strong  to  paint  him  in  description.  Imagination  has  been 
exhausted  in  her  efforts  to  deck  him  with  revolting  and 
inhuman  attributes.  Tyrant,  despot,  usurper;  destroyer  of 
the  liberties  of  his  country;  rash,  ignorant,  imbecile;  en- 
dangering the  public  peace  with  all  foreign  nations ;  destroy- 
ing domestic  prosperity  at  home;  ruining  all  industry,  all 
commerce,  all  manufactures;  annihilating  confidence  be- 
tween man  and  man;  delivering  up  the  streets  of  populous 
cities  to  grass  and  weeds,  and  the  wharves  of  commercial 
towns  to  the  encumbrance  of  decaying  vessels;  depriving 
labor  of  all  reward;  depriving  industry  of  all  employment; 
destroying  the  currency;  plunging  an  innocent  and  happy 
people  from  the  summit  of  felicity  to  the  depths  of  misery, 
want,  and  despair.  Such  is  the  faint  outline,  followed  up 
by  actual  condemnation,  of  the  appalling  denunciations 
daily  uttered  against  this  one  man,  from  the  moment  he 
became  an  object  of  political  competition,  down  to  the 
concluding  moment  of  his  political  existence. 

The  sacred  voice  of  inspiration  has  told  us  that  there  is 
a  time  for  all  things.  There  certainly  has  been  a  time  for 
every  evil  that  human  nature  admits  of  to  be  vaticinated  of 
President  Jackson's  administration;  equally  certain  the  time 
has  now  come  for  all  rational  and  well-disposed  people  to 
compare  the  predictions  with  the  facts,  and  to  ask  them- 
selves if  these  calamitous  prognostications  have  been  veri- 
fied by  events?  Have  we  peace,  or  war,  with  foreign  na- 
tions?   Certainly,  we  have  peace  with  all  the  world!  peace 


158 


THOMAS   H.  BENTON" 


with  all  its  benign,  and  felicitous,  and  beneficent  influ- 
ences! Are  we  respected,  or  despised  abroad?  Certainly 
the  American  name  never  was  more  honored  throughout 
the  four  quarters  of  the  globe  than  in  this  very  moment. 
Do  we  hear  of  indignity  or  outrage  in  any  quarter?  of 
merchants  robbed  in  foreign  ports?  of  vessels  searched  on 
the  high  seas  ?  of  American  citizens  impressed  into  foreign 
service?  of  the  national  flag  insulted  anywhere?  On  the 
contrary,  we  see  former  wrongs  repaired;  no  new  ones  in- 
flicted. France  pays  twenty-five  millions  of  francs  for 
spoliations  committed  thirty  years  ago;  Naples  pays  two 
millions  one  hundred  thousand  ducats  for  wrongs  of  the 
same  date,  Denmark  pays  six  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
rix-dollars  for  wrongs  done  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago; 
Spain  engages  to  pay  twelve  millions  of  reals  vellon  for 
injuries  of  fifteen  years'  date;  and  Portugal,  the  last  in  the 
list  of  former  aggressors,  admits  her  liability  and  only  waits 
the  adjustment  of  details  to  close  her  account  by  adequate 
indemnity.  So  far  from  war,  insult,  contempt,  and  spolia- 
tion from  abroad,  this  denounced  administration  has  been 
the  season  of  peace  and  goodwill  and  the  auspicious  era  of 
universal  reparation.  So  far  from  suffering  injury  at  the 
hands  of  foreign  powers,  our  merchants  have  received  in- 
demnities for  all  ormer  injuries.  It  has  been  the  day  of 
accounting,  of  settlement,  and  of  retribution.  The  total  list 
of  arrearages,  extending  through  four  successive  previous 
administrations,  has  been  closed  and  settled  up.  The 
wrongs  done  to  commerce  for  thirty  years  back,  and  under 
so  many  different  Presidents,  and  indemnities  withheld 
from  all,  have  been  repaired  and  paid  over  under  the 
beneficent  and  glorious  administration  of  President  Jack- 
son.   But  one  single  instance  of  outrage  has  occurred,  and 


ON  THE  EXPUNGING  RESOLUTION 


159 


that  at  the  extremities  of  the  world,  and  by  a  piratical 
horde,  amenable  to  no  law  but  the  law  of  force.  The 
Malays  of  Sumatra  committed  a  robbery  and  massacre 
upon  an  American  vessel.  Wretches  I  they  did  not  then 
know  that  Jackson  was  President  of  the  United  States!' 
and  that  no  distance,  no  time,  no  idle  ceremonial  of  treat- 
ing with  robbers  and  assassins,  was  to  hold  back  the  arm 
of  justice.  Commodore  Downes  went  out.  His  cannon  and 
his  bayonets  struck  the  outlaws  in  their  den.  They  paid  in 
terror  and  blood  for  the  outrage  which  was  committed ;  and 
the  great  lesson  was  taught  to  these  distant  pirates — to  our 
antipodes  themselves — that  not  even  the  entire  diameter  of 
this  globe  could  protect  them,  and  that  the  name  of  Ameri- 
can citizen,  like  that  of  Eoman  citizen  in  the  great  days  of 
the  Republic  and  of  the  empire,  was  to  be  the  inviolable 
passport  of  all  that  wore  it  throughout  the  whole  extent  of 
the  habitable  world.  .  .  . 

From  President  Jackson,  the  country  has  first  learned 
the  true  theory  and  practical  intent  of  the  Constitution,  in 
giving  to  the  Executive  a  qualified  negative  on  the  legis- 
lative power  of  Congress.  Far  from  being  an  odious,  dan- 
gerous, or  kingly  prerogative,  this  power,  as  vested  in  the 
President,  is  nothing  but  a  qualified  copy  of  the  famous 
veto  power  vested  in  the  tribunes  of  the  people  among  the 
Romans,  and  intended  to  suspend  the  passage  of  a  law  until 
the  people  themselves  should  have  time  to  consider  it.  The 
qualified  veto  of  the  President  destroys  nothing;  it  only  de- 
lays the  passage  of  a  law,  and  refers  it  to  the  people  for 
their  consideration  and  decision.  It  is  the  reference  of  a 
law,  not  to  a  committee  of  the  House,  or  of  the  whole 
House,  but  to  the  committee  of  the  whole  Union.  It  is  a 
recommitment  of  the  bill  to  the  people,  for  them  to  examine 


160 


THOMAS  H.  BENTON 


and  consider;  and  if,  upon  this  examination,  they  are  con- 
tent to  pass  it,  it  will  pass  at  the  next  session.  The  delay 
of  a  few  months  is  the  only  effect  of  a  veto,  in  a  case  where 
the  people  shall  ultimately  approve  a  law;  where  they  do 
not  approve  it,  the  interposition  of  the  veto  is  the  barrier 
which  saves  them  the  adoption  of  a  law,  the  repeal  of  which 
might  afterward  be  almost  impossible.  The  qualified  nega- 
tive is,  therefore,  a  beneficent  power,  intended  as  General 
Hamilton  expressly  declares  in  the  "Federalist,"  to  protect, 
first,  the  executive  department  from  the  encroachments  of 
the  legislative  department;  and,  secondly,  to  preserve  the 
people  from  hasty,  dangerous  or  criminal  legislation  on  the 
part  of  their  representatives.  This  is  the  design  and  inten- 
tion of  the  veto  power;  and  the  fear  expressed  by  Greneral 
Hamilton  was,  that  Presidents,  so  far  from  exercising  it  too 
often,  would  not  exercise  it  as  often  as  the  safety  of  the 
people  required;  that  they  might  lack  the  moral  courage  to 
stake  themselves  in  opposition  to  a  favorite  measure  of  the 
majority  of  the  two  Houses  of  Congress;  and  thus  deprive 
the  people,  in  many  instances,  of  their  right  to  pass  upon 
a  bill  before  it  becomes  a  final  law.  The  cases  in  which 
President  Jackson  has  exercised  the  veto  power  have  shown 
the  soundness  of  these  observations.  No  ordinary  President 
would  have  staked  himself  against  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States  and  the  two  Houses  of  Congress  in  1832.  It  required 
President  Jackson  to  confront  that  power — to  stem  that  tor- 
rent— to  stay  the  progress  of  that  charter,  and  to  refer  it  to 
the  people  for  their  decision.  His  moral  courage  was  equal 
to  the  crisis.  He  arrested  the  charter  until  it  could  be  got 
to  the  people,  and  they  have  arrested  it  forever.  Had  he 
not  done  so,  the  charter  would  have  become  law,  and  its 
repeal  almost  impossible.    The  people  of  the  whole  Union 


ON  THE  EXPUNGING  RESOLUTION 


161 


would  now  have  been  in  the  condition  of  the  people  of 
Pennsylvania,  bestrode  by  the  monster,  in  daily  conflict  with 
him,  and  maintaining  a  doubtful  contest  for  supremacy 
between  the  government  of  a  State  and  the  directory  of  a 
moneyed  corporation. 

To  detail  specific  acts  which  adorn  the  administration  of 
President  Jackson  and  illustrate  the  intuitive  sagacity  of 
his  intellect,  the  firmness  of  his  mind,  his  disregard  of  per- 
sonal popularity,  and  his  entire  devotion  to  the  public  good, 
would  be  inconsistent  with  this  rapid  sketch,  intended  merely 
to  present  general  views,  and  not  to  detail  single  actions, 
howsoever  worthy  they  may  be  of  a  splendid  page  in  the 
volume  of  history.  But  how  can  we  pass  over  the  great 
measure  of  the  removal  of  the  public  moneys  from  the  Bank 
of  the  United  States  in  the  autumn  of  1833  ?  that  wise, 
heroic,  and  masterly  measure  of  prevention  which  has  res- 
cued an  empire  from  the  fangs  of  a  merciless,  revengeful, 
greedy,  insatiate,  implacable,  moneyed  power ! 

It  is  a  remark  for  which  I  am  indebted  to  the  philosophic 
observation  of  my  most  esteemed  colleague  and  friend  [point- 
ing to  Dr.  Linn],  that,  while  it  requires  far  greater  talent  to 
foresee  an  evil  before  it  happens,  and  to  arrest  it  by  precau- 
tionary measures,  than  it  requires  to  apply  an  adequate 
remedy  to  the  same  evil  after  it  has  happened,  yet  the  ap- 
plause bestowed  by  the  world  is  always  greatest  in  the  latter 
case. 

Of  this  the  removal  of  the  public  moneys  from  the  Bank 
of  the  United  States  is  an  eminent  instance.  The  veto  of 
1832,  which  arrested  the  charter  which  Congress  had  granted, 
immediately  received  the  applause  and  approbation  of  a 
majority  of  the  Union;  the  removal  of  the  deposits,  which 
prevented  the  bank  from  forcing  a  recharter,  was  disapproved 

Vol.  5-11 


162 


THOMAS   Ho  BENTON 


by  a  lar^e  majority  of  the  country,  and  even  of  his  own 
friends;  yet  the  veto  would  have  been  unavailing,  and  the 
bank  would  inevitably  have  been  rechartered,  if  the  deposits 
had  not  been  removed.  The 'immense  sums  of  public  money 
since  accumulated  would  have  enabled  the  bank,  if  she  had 
retained  the  possession  of  it,  to  have  coerced  a  recharter. 
^Nothing  but  the  removal  could  have  prevented  her  fronj 
extorting  a  recharter  from  the  sufferings  and  terrors  of  the 
people.  If  it  had  not  been  for  that  measure  the  previous 
veto  would  have  been  unavailing ;  the  bank  would  have  been 
again  installed  in  power,  and  this  entire  federal  govern- 
ment would  have  been  held  as  an  appendage  to  that  bank, 
and  administered  according  to  her  directions  and  by  her 
nominees.  That  great  measure  of  prevention  the  removal  of 
the  deposits,  though  feebly  and  faintly  supported  by  friends 
at  first,  has  expelled  the  bank  from  the  field  and  driven  her 
into  abeyance  under  a  State  charter.  She  is  not  dead,  but, 
holding  her  capital  and  stockholders  together  under  a  State 
charter,  she  has  taken  a  position  to  watch  events  and  to 
profit  by  them.  The  royal  tiger  has  gone  into  the  jungle! 
and,  crouched  on  his  belly,  he  awaits  the  favorable  moment 
for  emerging  from  his  cover  and  springing  on  tho  body  of 
the  unsuspicious  traveller ! 

The  Treasury  order  for  excluding  paper  money  from  the 
land  offices  is  another  wise  measure  originating  in  an  enlight- 
ened forecast  and  preventing  great  mischiefs.  The  Presi- 
dent foresaw  the  evils  of  suffering  a  thousand  streams  of 
paper  money,  issuing  from  a  thousand  different  banks,  to 
discharge  themselves  on  the  national  domain.  He  foresaw 
that  if  these  currents  were  allowed  to  run  their  course  the 
public  lands  would  be  swept  away,  the  Treasury  would  be 
filled  with  irredeemable  paper,  a  vast  number  of  banks  must 


ON  THE  EXPUNGING  RESOLUTION 


163 


be  broken  by  their  folly,  and  the  cry  set  up  that  nothing  but 
a  national  bank  could  regulate  the  currency.  He  stopped  the 
course  of  these  streams  of  paper,  and,  in  so  doing,  has  saved 
the  country  from  a  great  calamity  and  excited  anew  the 
machinations  of  those  whose  schemes  of  gain  and  mischief 
have  been  disappointed,  and  who  had  counted  on  a  new  edi- 
tion of  panic  and  pressure,  and  again  saluted  Congress  with 
the  old  story  of  confidence  destroyed,  currency  ruined,  pros- 
perity annihilated,  and  distress  produced,  by  the  tyranny  of 
one  man.  They  began  their  lugubrious  song;  but  ridicule 
and  contempt  have  proved  too  strong  for  money  and  inso- 
lence; and  the  panic-letter  of  the  ex-president  of  the  dena- 
tionalized bank,  after  limping  about  for  a  few  days,  has 
shrunk  from  the  lash  of  public  scorn  and  disappeared  from 
the  forum  of  public  debate. 

The  difficulty  with  France:  what  an  instance  it  presents 
of  the  superior  sagacity  of  President  Jackson  over  all  the 
commonplace  politicians  who  beset  and  impede  his  adminis- 
tration at  home !  That  difficulty,  inflamed  and  aggravated 
by  domestic  faction,  wore,  at  one  time,  a  protentous  aspect ; 
the  skill,  firmness,  elevation  of  purpose,  and  manly  frank- 
ness of  the  President  avoided  the  danger,  accomplished  the 
object,  commanded  the  admiration  of  Europe,  and  retained 
the  friendship  of  France.  He  conducted  the  delicate  affair 
to  a  successful  and  mutually  honorable  issue.  All  is  ami- 
cably and  happily  terminated,  leaving  not  a  wound,  nor  even 
a  scar,  behind  —  leaving  the  Frenchman  and  American  on 
the  ground  on  which  they  have  stood  for  fifty  years  and 
should  forever  stand ;  the  ground  of  friendship,  respect,  good 
will,  and  mutual  wishes  for  the  honor,  happiness,  and  pros- 
perity of  each  other. 

But  why  this  specification  ?   So  beneficent  and  so  glorious 


164 


THOMAS   H.  BENTON 


has  been  the  administration  of  this  President,  that  where  to 
begin  and  where  to  end  in  the  enumeration  of  great  meas- 
ures would  be  the  embarrassment  of  him  who  has  his  eulogy 
to  make.  He  came  into  office  the  first  of  generals;  he  goes 
out  the  first  of  statesmen.  His  civil  competitors  have  shared 
the  fate  of  his  military  opponents ;  and  Washington  city  has 
been  to  the  American  politicians  who  have  assailed  him  what 
'New  Orleans  was  to  the  British  generals  who  attacked  his 
lines.  Repulsed !  driven  back !  discomfited !  crushed !  has 
been  the  fate  of  all  assailants,  foreign  and  domestic,  civil  and 
military.  At  home  and  abroad  the  impress  of  his  genius  and 
of  his  character  is  felt.  He  has  impressed  upon  the  age  in 
which  he  lives  the  stamp  of  his  arms,  of  his  diplomacy,  and 
of  his  domestic  policy. 

In  a  word,  so  transcendent  have  been  the  merits  of  his 
administration  that  they  have  operated  a  miracle  upon  the 
minds  of  his  most  inveterate  opponents.  He  has  expunged 
their  objections  to  military  chieftains !  He  has  shown  them 
that  they  were  mistaken;  that  military  men  were  not  the 
dangerous  rulers  they  had  imagined,  but  safe  and  prosperous 
conductors  of  the  vessel  of  state.  He  has  changed  their  fear 
into  love.  With  visible  signs  they  admit  their  error,  and, 
instead  of  deprecating,  they  now  invoke  the  reign  of  chief- 
tains. They  labored  hard  to  procure  a  military  successor  to 
the  present  incumbent;  and  if  their  love  goes  on  increasing 
at  the  same  rate  the  republic  may  be  put  to  the  expense  of 
periodical  wars  to  breed  a  perpetual  succession  of  these  chief- 
tains to  rule  over  them  and  their  posterity  forever. 

To  drop  this  irony,  which  the  inconsistency  of  mad  oppo- 
nents has  provoked,  and  to  return  to  the  plain  delineations  of 
historical  painting,  the  mind  instinctively  dwells  on  the  vast 
and  unprecedented  popularity  of  this  President.    Great  is 


ON  THE  EXPUNGING  RESOLUTION 


165 


the  influence,  great  the  power,  greater  than  any  man  ever 
before  possessed  in  our  America,  which  he  has  acquired  over 
the  public  mind. 

And  how  has  he  acquired  it  ?  Not  by  the  arts  of  intrigue, 
or  the  juggling  tricks  of  diplomacy;  not  by  undermining 
rivals  or  sacrificing  public  interests  for  the  gratification  of 
classes  or  individuals.  But  he  has  acquired  it,  first,  by  the 
exercise  of  an  intuitive  sagacity  which,  leaving  all  book  learn- 
ing at  an  immeasurable  distance  behind,  has  always  enabled 
him  to  adopt  the  right  remedy  at  the  right  time,  and  to  con- 
quer soonest  w^hen  the  men  of  forms  and  office  thought  him 
most  near  to  ruin  and  despair;  next,  by  a  moral  courage 
which  knew  no  fear  when  the  public  good  beckoned  him  to 
go  on. 

Last,  and  chiefest,  he  has  acquired  it  by  an  open  honesty 
of  purpose  which  knew  no  concealments;  by  a  straightfor- 
wardness of  action  which  disdained  the  forms  of  office  and 
the  arts  of  intrigue ;  by  a  disinterestedness  of  motive  which 
knew  no  selfish  or  sordid  calculation ;  a  devotedness  of  patriot- 
ism which  staked  everything  personal  on  the  issue  of  every 
measure  which  the  public  welfare  required  him  to  adopt. 
By  these  qualities  and  these  means  he  has  acquired  his 
prodigious  popularity  and  his  transcendent  influence  over 
the  public  mind;  and  if  there  are  any  who  envy  that  in- 
fluence and  popularity  let  them  envy  also,  and  emulate  if 
they  can,  the  qualities  and  means  by  which  they  were  ac- 
quired. 

Great  has  been  the  opposition  to  President  Jackson's  . 
administration;  greater,  perhaps,  than  ever  has  been  exhib- 
ited against  any  government,  short  of  actual  insurrection 
and  forcible  resistance.    Revolution  has  been  proclaimed ! 
and  everything  has  been  done  that  could  be  expected  to  pro- 


166 


l-HOMAS   H.  BENTON 


duce  revolution.  The  country  has  been  alarmed,  agitated, 
convulsed.  From  the  Senate  chamber  to  the  village  bar- 
room, from  one  end  of  the  continent  to  the  other,  denuncia- 
tion, agitation,  excitement,  has  been  the  order  of  the  day. 
For  eight  years  the  President  of  this  republic  has  stood  upon 
a  volcano,  vomiting  fire  and  flames  upon  him,  and  threat- 
ening the  country  itself  with  ruin  and  desolation  if  the 
people  did  not  expel  the  usurper,  despot,  and  tyrant,  as  he 
was  called,  from  the  high  place  to  which  the  suffrages  of 
millions  of  freemen  had  elevated  him. 

Great  is  the  confidence  which  he  has  always  reposed  in 
the  discernment  and  equity  of  the  American  people.  I  have 
been  accustomed  to  see  him  for  many  years  and  under  many 
discouraging  trials ;  but  never  saw  him  doubt,  for  an  instant, 
the  ultimate  support  of  the  people. 

It  was  my  privilege  to  see  him  often,  and  during  the  most 
gloomy  period  of  the  panic  conspiracy,  when  the  whole  earth 
seemed  to  be  in  commotion  against  him,  and  when  many 
friends  were  faltering,  and  stout  hearts  were  quailing  before 
the  raging  storm  which  bank  machination  and  senatorial 
denunciation  had  conjured  up  to  overwhelm  him.  I  saw 
him  in  the  darkest  moments  of  this  gloomy  period,  and 
never  did  I  see  his  confidence  in  the  ultimate  support  of  his 
fellow  citizens  forsake  him  for  an  instant. 

He  always  said  the  people  would  stand  by  those  who  stood 
by  them;  and  nobly  have  they  justified  that  confidence! 
That  verdict,  the  voice  of  millions,  which  now  demands  the 
expurgation  of  that  sentence  which  the  Senate  and  the  bank 
then  pronounced  upon  him,  is  the  magnificent  response  of 
the  people's  hearts  to  the  implicit  confidence  which  he  then 
reposed  in  them.  But  it  was  not  in  the  people  only  that  he 
had  confidence ;  there  was  another,  and  a  far  higher  Power, 


ON  THE  EXPUNGING   RESOLUTION  167 

to  which  he  constantly  looked  to  save  the  country  and  its 
defenders  from  every  danger;  and  signal  events  prove  that 
he  did  not  look  to  that  high  Power  in  vain. 

Sir,  I  think  it  right,  in  approaching  the  termination  of 
this  great  question,  to  present  this  faint  and  rapid  sketch 
of  the  brilliant,  beneficent,  and  glorious  administration  of 
President  Jackson.  It  is  not  for  me  to  attempt  to  do  it  jus- 
tice; it  is  not  for  ordinary  men  to  attempt  its  history.  His 
military  life,  resplendent  with  dazzling  events,  will  demand 
the  pen  of  a  nervous  writer ;  his  civil  administration,  replete 
with  scenes  which  have  called  into  action  so  many  and  such 
various  passions  of  the  human  heart,  and  which  has  given  to 
native  sagacity  so  many  victories  over  practised  politicians, 
will  require  the  profound,  luminous,  and  philosophical  con- 
ceptions of  a  Livy,  a  Plutarch,  or  a  Sallust.  This  history 
is  not  to  be  written  in  our  day.  The  contemporaries  of  such 
events  are  not  the  hands  to  describe  them.  Time  must  first 
do  its  ofiice  —  must  silence  the  passions,  remove  the  actors, 
develop  consequences,  and  canonize  all  that  is  sacred  to  honor, 
patriotism,  and  glory. 

And  now,  sir,  I  finish  the  task  which  three  years  ago 
I  imposed  on  myself.  Solitary  and  alone,  and  amid  the 
jeers  and  taunts  of  my  opponents,  I  put  this  ball  in  motion. 
The  people  have  taken  it  up,  and  rolled  it  forward,  and  I 
am  no  longer  anything  but  a  unit  in  the  vast  mass  which 
now  propels  it.  In  the  name  of  that  mass  I  speak.  I  demand 
the  execution  of  the  edict  of  the  people ;  I  demand  the  expur- 
gation of  that  sentence  which  the  voice  of  a  few  senators,  and 
the  power  of  their  confederate,  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States,  has  caused  to  be  placed  on  the  Journal  of  the  Senate ; 
and  which  the  voice  of  millions  of  freemen  has  ordered  to 
be  expunged  from  it. 


ESAIAS  TEaN^]R 


SAIAS  Tegn^,  a  distinguished  Swedish  poet,  was  born  in  Wermeland, 
Sweden,  Nov.  13,  1782,  and  died  at  Wexio,  of  which  he  became  bishop, 
Nov.  2,  1846.  His  father,  who  was  a  farmer,  died  in  1792,  leaving  a 
large  family  with  slender  means.  The  boy  was,  however,  adopted  by 
a  wealthy  friend  of  the  family  and  given  every  opportunity  to  educate  himself.  His 
literary  career  began  early.  His  first  work  shows  the  influence  of  the  great  writers 
of  the  time,  Goethe,  Schiller,  Oehlenschlager,  and  even  Byron.  This  period  was 
soon  past,  however,  for  in  1825  appeared  his  great  work,  which  is  unrivaled  still  in 
Scandinavian  literature,  "Fridthjof's  Saga,"  a  series  of  lyrical  poems  woven  into 
an  epic  cycle.  It  has  been  translated  into  nearly  every  European  language,  six  dif- 
ferent verF^ions  having  been  made  into  English  alone. 

ADDRESS  BEFORE  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  LUND,  1823 

WHAT  is  the  principal  subject  under  discussion  in 
Europe  at  the  present  time?  What  are  the 
so-called  new  revolutionary  doctrines,  the  consti- 
tutional tenets,  that  the  people  are  contesting  so  vigorously? 
Among  the  more  deliberative  and  better  classes  at  least  they 
are  really  no  other  than  these:  that  the  power  of  government 
emanates,  not  from  the  regent  alone,  as  that  is  despotism, 
neither  from  the  people  alone,  which  is  the  foundation  of 
anarchism,  but  from  the  union  of  the  two;  that  consequently 
the  people  have  a  moral  right,  because  of  their  part  in  the 
government,  to  hold  the  responsible  ruler  to  account  before 
God  and  man;  that  the  law  expressing  the  common  will  is  the 
highest  authority  in  the  State  before  which  all  must  be  ranked 
as  equals;  that  the  community  cannot  recognize  other  claims 
and  preferences  than  those  which  are  based  either  upon  per- 
sonal merits  or  upon  natural  differences  which  may  be  essen- 
tial to  good  order  in  the  community,  that  the  State  must 
protect  all  personal  property,  for  which  the  people  would  put 

itself  under  contribution;  that  the  State  must  also  protect 
(168) 


BEFORE  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  LUND 


169 


the  individual's  inherent  rights  so  that  the  citizen  may  per- 
sonally or  through  a  representative  express  his  convictions 
concerning  matters  of  public  interest. 

What  would  be  the  results  of  all  this?  Would  the  most 
important  episode  known  to  us  of  the  more  recent  history, 
would  the  Revolution  have  been  fought  wholly  in  vain? 
Political  conceptions  and  views  which  grew  out  of  it,  would 
they  finally  be  nothing  better  than  glaring  mistakes,  without 
expediency  and  without  benefit  to  humanity?  And  the 
blood,  that  noble  blood  which  flowed  in  freedom's  cause, 
which  probably  will  flow  again  for  the  same  high  purpose, 
would  that  be  spilt  in  vain?  We  will  not  subscribe  to  such 
inconsolable  teachings.  We  will  not  acknowledge  that  any- 
thing in  universal  history  is  void  of  results,  and  least  of  all 
that  to  which  so  many  noble  minds  looked  with  fondest 
expectations.  We  refuse  particularly  to  acknowledge  that 
justice  and  the  higher  ideals  ever  can  be  fruitless,  even  if  they 
are  not  applicable  instantly  to  every  exigency.  It  is  my 
heartiest  conviction  and  strongest  hope  that  the  so-called  con- 
stitutional doctrines  shall  triumph  at  last,  but  hardly  in  that 
way  which  a  certain  hasty  though  well-meaning  individual 
desired;  hardly  can  you  expect  them  to  transform  the  world 
as  if  by  a  sudden  touch  of  magic  power.  An  old  fable  tells 
us  that  Pelias'  daughters,  desiring  to  at  once  make  their  aged 
father  young  again,  injected  young  blood  in  his  veins.  The 
results  were,  naturally,  that  the  old  blood  ran  out  and  the 
new  blood  would  not  stay.  So  with  the  State.  The  new 
and  better  element  must  enter  the  system  gradually  and  drive 
the  unwholesome  particles  out  slowly.  The  people  must  be 
educated  up  to  the  new  forms,  as  they  were  for  centuries 
brought  up  to  the  old. 

[Specially  translated  by  Charles  E.  Hurd.] 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


ANiEL  Webster,  American  statesman  and  lawyer,  and  an  orator  of  more 
than  national  repute,  was  born  at  Salisbury  (Franklin),  N.  H.,  Jan.  18, 
1782,  and  died  at  Marshfield,  Mass.,  Oct.  24,  1852.  His  father  was  a 
worthy  man  of  Scotch  extraction,  who  had  seen  service  as  a  captain  in  the 
French  and  Indian  War,  and  now  lived  with  his  family,  to  whom  he  was  devoted,  on  a 
New  Hampshire  farm.  He  gave  his  son,  ere  long  to  become  famous  in  the  nation,  such 
education  as  the  district  afforded,  afterward  sending  him  to  an  academy  at  Exeter  ; 
and  coached  by  a  tutor  he  entered  Dartmouth  College,  where  he  had  to  meet  his  col- 
lege expenses  by  teaching  school  himself,  until  he  graduated  in  1801."  Casting  about 
for  a  profession,  he  entered  a  lawyer's  office,  studied  law,  and  in  1805  was  admitted  to 
the  Bar  and  began  to  practice  first  at  Boscawen,  afterward  at  Portsmouth,  and  later  on 
at  Boston,  where  he  at  once  took  a  leading  place  in  the  profession.  Before  settling  in 
Massachusetts,  he  had  been  elected  in  1813  to  Congress,  where  he  espoused  the  cause  of 
the  Federalist  party,  and  by  two  notable  speeches  in  the  House,  one  in  opposition  to 
the  war  policy  of  the  government  and  the  other  on  the  Berlin  and  Milan  decrees,  he  at 
once  proved  his  ability  and  force  as  an  orator.  In  1818,  he  further  enhanced  his  repu- 
tation as  a  lawyer  by  a  speech  before  the  Supreme  Court  in  the  celebrated  Dartmouth 
College  case  ;  and  as  an  orator  by  his  addresses,  in  1820,  on  the  two  hundredth  anniver- 
sary of  the  Landing  of  the  Pilgrims  at  Plymouth  ;  in  1825,  at  the  laying  of  the  corner 
stone  of  the  Bunker  Hill  monument,  on  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  battle  ;  and  in 

1826,  on  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Others  of  his 
masterly  orations  include  the  eulogies  of  Jefferson  and  John  Adams,  the  second  Bunker 
Hill  address,  and  the  one  at  Washington  in  1851,  spoken  at  the  laying  of  the  corner- 
stone of  the  addition  to  the  Capitol.  In  all  of  these  addresses,  as  well  as  in  those  de- 
livered in  the  Senate,  especially  the  reply  to  R.  Y.  Hayne,  Mr.  Webster  shows  the 
marvelous  range  of  his  powers,  and  the  lofty  manner  in  which  he  voiced  the  higher  and 
patriotic  sentiment  of  the  nation.  In  the  commercial  (shipping)  interest  of  Massa- 
chusetts, he  opposed  the  tariff  of  1816,  as  well  as  that  of  1828,  which  latter  he 
was,  however,  compelled  with  all  its  "enormities"  to  accept;  and  he  was  also 
one  of  the  opposers,  though  for  party  reasons,  of  the  second  United  States  Bank, 
when  it  sought  and  obtained,  in  1816,  a  renewal  of  its  charter.    From  1823  to 

1827,  Mr.  Webster  represented  Massachusetts  in  Congress,  and  from  1827  to  1841 
he  had  a  seat  in  the  United  States  Senate.  In  the  latter  body,  he  delivered  those 
great  constitutional  speeches  that  raised  him  to  the  pinnacle  of  fame  and  won  for  him 
the  leadership  of  the  northern  Whigs.  From  1841  to  1843,  he  was  Secretary  of 
State  under  Harrison  and  under  Tyler,  in  which  capacity  he  negotiated  the  Ashburton 
treaty  with  England.  He  then  resumed  his  seat  in  the  Senate  and  continued  to  hold 
it  until  from  1845  to  1850,  when  he  became  Secretary  of  State  under  Fillmore  and, 
holding  this  post,  death  took  him  ere  he  could  attain  the  object  of  his  ambition  —  the 
Presidency.  With  great  and  noble  traits  of  character,  and  personally  without 
blemish,  and  genial  and  kindly  in  his  social  relations,  Webster  was  politically  at 

(170) 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


THE   REPLY   TO  IIAYNE 


171 


times  seriously  at  fault,  though,  doubtless,  with  perfect  sincerity.  Though  not  a 
disunionist,  he  favored  State  sovereignty,  believing  it  to  be  the  sure  basis  and 
bond  of  union,  and  that  the  right  of  nullification,  if  recognized,  was  to  be  enjoined, 
as  it  would  hold  the  central  power  in  check.  He  also  defended  African  slavery 
as  a  solution  of  the  conflict  between  labor  and  capital. 


THE  REPLY  TO  HAYNE 

DELIVERED  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  SENATE.  IN  REPLY  TO  HAYNE  ON 
THE  FOOTE  RESOLUTION.  JANUARY  26.  1830 

Mr.  President: 

WHEN  the  manner  has  been  tossed  for  many  days, 
in  thick  weather,  and  on  an  unknown  sea,  he 
naturally  avails  himself  of  the  first  pause  in  the 
storm,  the  earliest  glance  of  the  sun,  to  take  his  latitude, 
and  ascertain  how  far  the  elements  have  driven  him  from 
his  true  course.  Let  us  imitate  this  prudence,  and,  before 
we  fl,oat  further  on  the  waves  of  this  debate,  refer  to  the 
point  from  which  we  departed,  that  we  may  at  least  be  able 
to  conjecture  where  we  now  are.  I  ask  for  the  reading  of 
the  resolution. 

The  Secretary  read  the  resolution,  as  follows: 
'^Resolved.,  That  the  Committee  on  Public  Lands  be  in- 
structed to  inquire  and  report  the  quantity  of  public  lands 
remaining  unsold  within  each  State  and  Territory,  and 
whether  it  be  expedient  to  limit,  for  a  certain  period,  the 
sales  of  the  public  lands  to  such  lands  only  as  have  hereto- 
fore been  offered  for  sale,  and  are  now  subject  to  entry  at 
the  minimum  price.  And,  also,  whether  the  office  of  Sur- 
veyor-General, and  some  of  the  land  offices,  may  not  be 
abolished  without  detriment  to  the  public  interest;  or 
whether  it  be  expedient  to  adopt  measures  to  hasten  the 
sales  and  extend  more  rapidly  the  surveys  of  the  public 
lands.'' 


172 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


We  have  thus  heard,  sir,  what  the  resolution  is,  which 
is  actually  before  us  for  consideration;  and  it  will  readily 
occur  to  every  one  that  it  is  almost  the  only  subject  about 
which  something  has  not  been  said  in  the  speech,  running 
through  two  days,  by  which  the  Senate  has  now  been  en- 
tertained by  the  gentleman  from  South  Carolina.  Every 
topic  in  the  wide  range  of  our  public  affairs,  whether  past 
or  present — everything,  general  or  local,  whether  belonging 
to  national  politics,  or  party  politics,  seems  to  have  attracted 
more  or  less  of  the  honorable  member's  attention,  save  only 
the  resolution  before  the  Senate.  He  has  spoken  of  every- 
thing but  the  public  lands.  They  have  escaped  his  notice. 
To  that  subject,  in  all  his  excursions,  he  has  not  paid  even 
the  cold  respect  of  a  passing  glance. 

When  this  debate,  sir,  was  to  be  resumed  on  Thursday 
morning,  it  so  happened  that  it  would  have  been  conven- 
ient for  me  to  be  elsewhere.  The  honorable  member,  how- 
ever, did  not  incline  to  put  off  the  discussion  to  another 
day.  He  had  a  shot,  he  said,  to  return,  and  he  wished  to 
discharge  it.  That  shot,  sir,  which  it  was  kind  thus  to  in- 
form us  was  coming,  that  we  might  stand  out  of  the  way,  or 
prepare  ourselves  to  fall  before  it,  and  die  with  decency, 
has  now  been  received.  Under  all  advantages,  and  with 
expectation  awakened  by  the  tone  which  preceded  it,  it 
has  been  discharged,  and  has  spent  its  force.  It  may  be- 
come me  to  say  no  more  of  its  effect  than  that  if  nobody 
is  found,  after  all,  either  killed  or  wounded  by  it,  it  is 
not  the  first  time,  in  the  history  of  human  affairs,  that 
the  vigor  and  success  of  the  war  have  not  quite  come  up 
to  the  lofty  and  sounding  phrase  of  the  manifesto. 

The  gentleman,  sir,  in  declining  to  postpone  the  debate, 
told  the  Senate,  with  the  emphasis  of  his  hand  upon  his 


THE  REPLY  TO  HAYNH 


178 


heart,  that  there  was  something  rankling  here,  which  he 
wished  to  relieve. 

Mr.  Hayne  rose,  and  disclaimed  having  used  the  word 
"rankling." 

It  would  not,  Mr.  President,  be  safe  for  the  honorable 
member  to  appeal  to  those  around  him  upon  the  question 
whether  he  did,  in  fact,  make  use  of  that  word.  But  he 
may  have  been  unconscious  of  it.  At  any  rate,  it  is 
enough  that  he  disclaims  it.  But  still,  with  or  without 
the  use  of  that  particular  word,  he  had  yet  something  here, 
he  said,  of  which  he  wished  to  rid  himself  by  an  immediate 
reply.  In  this  respect,  sir,  I  have  a  great  advantage  over 
the  honorable  gentleman.  There  is  nothing  here,  sir,  which 
gives  me  the  slightest  uneasiness;  neither  fear,  nor  anger, 
nor  that  which  is  sometimes  more  troublesome  than  either 
— the  consciousness  of  having  been  in  the  wrong.  There  is 
nothing,  either  originating  here,  or  now  received  here  by 
the  gentleman's  shot.  Nothing  original,  for  I  had  not  the 
slightest  feeling  of  disrespect  or  unkindness  toward  the 
honorable  member.  Some  passages,  it  is  true,  had  oc- 
curred since  our  acquaintance  in  this  body,  which  I 
could  have  wished  might  have  been  otherwise;  but  I 
had  used  philosophy  and  forgotten  them.  When  the 
honorable  member  rose,  in  his  first  speech,  1  paid  him 
the  respect  of  attentive  listening;  and  when  he  sat  down, 
though  surprised,  and,  I  must  say,  even  astonished,  at 
some  of  his  opinions,  nothing  was  further  from  my  inten- 
tion than  to  commence  any  personal  warfare:  and  through 
the  whole  of  the  few  remarks  I  made  in  answer,  I  avoided, 
studiously  and  carefully,  everything  which  I  thought  pos 
sible  to  be  construed  into  disrespect.    And,  sir,  while  there 


174 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


is  thus  nothing  originating  here,  which  I  wished  at  any  time 
or  now  wish  to  discharge,  I  must  repeat,  also,  that  nothing 
has  been  received  here  which  rankles,  or  in  any  way  gives 
me  annoyance.  I  will  not  accuse  the  honorable  member  of 
violating  the  rules  of  civilized  war — I  will  not  say  that  he 
poisoned  his  arrows.  But  whether  his  shafts  were,  or  were 
not,  dipped  in  that  which  would  have  caused  rankling,  if 
they  had  reached,  there  was  not,  as  it  happened,  quite 
strength  enough  in  the  bow  to  bring  them  to  their  mark. 
If  he  wishes  now  to  gather  up  those  shafts,  he  must  look 
for  them  elsewhere;  they  will  not  be  found  fixed  and 
quivering  in  the  object  at  which  they  were  aimed. 

The  honorable  member  complained  that  I  had  slept 
on  his  speech.  1  must  have  slept  on  it,  or  not  slept  at 
all.  The  moment  the  honorable  member  sat  down,  his 
friend  from  Missouri  rose,  and,  with  much  honeyed  com- 
mendation of  the  speech,  suggested  that  the  impressions 
which  it  had  produced  were  too  charming  and  delightful 
to  be  disturbed  by  other  sentiments  or  other  sounds,  and 
proposed  that  the  Senate  should  adjourn.  Would  it  have 
been  quite  amiable  in  me,  sir,  to  interrupt  this  excellent 
good  feeling?  Must  I  not  have  been  absolutely  malicious, 
if  I  could  have  thrust  myself  forward  to  destroy  sensations 
thus  pleasing?  Was  it  not  much  better  and  kinder,  both 
to  sleep  upon  them  myself  and  to  allow  others  also  the 
pleasure  of  sleeping  upon  them?  But  if  it  be  meant,  by 
sleeping  upon  his  speech,  that  I  took  time  to  prepare  a 
reply  to  it,  it  is  quite  a  mistake;  owing  to  other  engage- 
ments I  could  not  employ  even  the  interval  between  the 
adjournment  of  the  Senate  and  its  meeting  the  next  morn- 
ing, in  attention  to  the  subject  of  this  debate.  Neverthe- 
less, sir,  the  mere  matter  of  fact  is  undoubtedly  true— 1 


THE  REPLY  TO  HAYNE 


175 


did  sleep  on  the  gentleman's  speech;  and  slept  soundly. 
And  I  slept  equally  well  on  his  speech  of  yesterday,  to 
which  I  am  now  replying.  It  is  quite  possible  that  in  this 
respect,  also,  I  possess  some  advantage  over  the  honorable 
member,  attributable,  doubtless,  to  a  cooler  temperament  on 
my  part;  for,  in  truth,  I  slept  upon  his  speeches  remarkably 
well.  But  the  gentleman  inquires  why  he  was  made  the  ob- 
ject of  such  a  reply  ?  Why  was  he  singled  out  ?  If  an  at- 
tack has  been  made  on  the  East,  he,  he  assures  us,  did  not 
begin  it — it  was  the  gentleman  from  Missouri.  Sir,  I  an- 
swered the  gentleman's  speech  because  I  happened  to  hear 
it:  and  because,  also,  I  chose  to  give  an  answer  to  that 
speech  which,  if  unanswered,  I  thought  most  likely  to  pro- 
duce injurious  impressions.  I  did  not  stop  to  inquire  who 
was  the  original  drawer  of  the  bill.  I  found  a  responsible 
indorser  before  me,  and  it  was  my  purpose  to  hold  him 
liable,  and  to  bring  him  to  his  just  responsibility  without 
delay.  But,  sir,  this  interrogatory  of  the  honorable  mem- 
ber was  only  introductory  to  another.  He  proceeded  to  ask 
me  whether  I  had  turned  upon  him,  in  this  debate,  from  the 
consciousness  that  I  should  find  an  overmatch  if  I  ventured 
on  a  contest  with  his  friend  from  Missouri.  If,  sir,  the  hon- 
orable member,  ex  gratia  modestice^  had  chosen  thus  to  defer 
to  his  friend  and  to  pay  him  a  compliment,  without  inten- 
tional disparagement  to  others,  it  would  have  been  quite 
according  to  the  friendly  courtesies  of  debate,  and  not  at 
all  ungrateful  to  my  own  feelings.  I  am  not  one  of  those, 
sir,  who  esteem  any  tribute  of  regard,  whether  light  and 
occasional,  or  more  serious  and  deliberate,  which  may  be 
bestowed  on  others,  as  so  much  unjustly  withholden  from 
themselves.  But  the  tone  and  manner  of  the  gentleman's 
question  forbid  me  that  1  thus  interpret  it.    I  am  not  at 


176 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


liberty  to  consider  it  as  nothing  more  than  a  civility  to  his 
friend.  It  had  an  air  of  taunt  and  disparagement,  some- 
thing of  the  loftiness  of  asserted  superiority,  which  does 
not  allow  me  to  pass  over  it  without  notice.  It  was  put 
as  a  question  for  me  to  answer,  and  so  put  as  if  it  were 
difficult  for  me  to  answer:  Whether  I  deemed  the  member 
from  Missouri  an  overmatch  for  myself  in  debate  here.  It 
seems  to  me,  sir,  that  this  is  extraordinary  language,  and 
an  extraordinary  tone,  for  the  discussions  of  this  body. 

Matches  and  overmatches!  Those  terms  are  more  ap- 
plicable elsewhere  than  here,  and  fitter  for  other  assem- 
blies than  this.  Sir,  the  gentleman  seems  to  forget  where 
and  what  we  are.  This  is  a  Senate;  a  Senate  of  equals:  of 
men  of  individual  honor  and  personal  character,  and  of  ab- 
solute independence.  We  know  no  masters;  we  acknowl- 
edge no  dictators.  This  is  a  hall  for  mutual  consultation 
and  discussion;  not  an  arena  for  the  exhibition  of  cham- 
pionSo  I  offer  myself,  sir,  as  a  match  for  no  man ;  I  throw 
the  challenge  of  debate  at  no  man's  feet.  But  then,  sir, 
since  the  honorable  member  has  put  the  question  in  a 
manner  that  calls  for  an  answer,  I  will  give  him  an  an- 
swer; and  I  tell  him  that,  holding  myself  to  be  the  hum- 
blest of  the  members  here,  I  yet  know  nothing  in  the  arm 
of  his  friend  from  Missouri,  either  alone,  or  when  aided  by 
the  arm  of  his  friend  from  South  Carolina,  that  need  deter 
even  me  from  espousing  whatever  opinions  I  may  choose  to 
espouse,  from  debating  whatever  I  may  choose  to  debate,  or 
from  speaking  whatever  I  may  see  fit  to  say  on  the  floor  of 
the  Senate.  Sir,  when  uttered  as  matter  of  commendation 
or  compliment,  I  should  dissent  from  nothing  which  the 
honorable  member  might  say  of  his  friend.  Still  less  do 
1  put  forth  any  pretensions  of  my  own.    But,  when  put  to 


THE  REPLY  TO  FIAYITK 


177 


rne  as  a  matter  of  taunt,  1  throw  it  back,  and  say  to  the  gen- 
tleman that  he  could  possibly  say  nothing  less  likely  than 
such  a  comparison  to  wound  my  pride  of  personal  character. 
The  anger  of  its  tone  rescued  the  remark  from  intentional 
irony,  which  otherwise  probably  would  have  been  its  gen- 
eral acceptation.  But,  sir,  if  it  be  imagined  that  by  this 
mutual  quotation  and  commendation;  if  it  be  supposed 
that,  by  casting  the  characters  of  the  drama,  assigning  to 
each  his  part,  to  one  the  attack,  to  another  the  cry  of  on- 
set; or  if  it  be  thought  that  by  a  loud  and  empty  vaunt  of 
anticipated  victory  any  laurels  are  to  be  won  here;  if  it  be 
imagined,  especially,  that  any  or  all  these  things  will  shake 
any  purpose  of  mine,  I  can  tell  the  honorable  member,  once 
for  all,  that  he  is  greatly  mistaken,  and  that  he  is  dealing 
with  one  of  whose  temper  and  character  he  has  yet  much 
to  learn.  Sir,  I  shall  not  allow  myself  on  this  occasion,  I 
hope  on  no  occasion,  to  be  betrayed  into  any  loss  of  tem- 
per; but  if  provoked,  as  I  trust  I  never  shall  be,  into  crim- 
ination and  recrimination,  the  honorable  member  may  per- 
haps find  that,  in  that  contest,  there  will  be  blows  to  take 
as  well  as  blows  to  give;  that  others  can  state  comparisons 
as  significant,  at  least,  as  his  own;  and  that  his  impunity 
may  possibly  demand  of  laim  whatever  powers  of  taunt  and 
sarcasm  he  may  possess.  1  commend  him  to  a  prudent  hus- 
bandry of  his  resources. 

But,  sir,  the  coalition!  The  coalition!  Ay,  "the  mur- 
dered coalition"!  The  gentleman  asks  if  I  were  led  or 
frightened  into  this  debate  by  the  spectre  of  the  coalition — 
"Was  it  the  ghost  of  the  murdered  coalition,"  he  exclaims, 
"which  haunted  the  member  from  Massachusetts,  and  which, 
like  the  ghost  of  Banquo,  would  never  down  ?"  "The  mur- 
dered coalition!"    Sir,  this  charge  of  a  coalition,  in  refer- 

Vol.  &-12 


178 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


ence  to  the  late  administration,  is  not  original  with  the 

honorable  member.  It  did  not  spring  up  in  the  Senate. 
Whether  as  a  fact,  as  an  argument,  or  as  an  embellishment, 
it  is  all  borrowed.  He  adopts  it,  indeed,  from  a  very  low 
origin  and  a  still  lower  present  condition.  It  is  one  of  the 
thousand  calumnies  with  which  the  press  teemed  during  an 
excited  political  canvass.  It  was  a  charge  of  which  there 
was  not  only  no  proof  or  probability,  but  which  was,  in 
itself,  wholly  impossible  to  be  true.  No  man  of  common 
information  ever  believed  a  syllable  of  it.  Yet  it  was  of 
that  class  of  falsehoods,  which,  by  continued  repetition, 
through  all  the  organs  of  detraction  and  abuse,  are  capa- 
ble of  misleading  those  who  are  already  far  misled,  and 
of  further  fanning  passion,  already  kindling  into  flame. 
Doubtless  it  served  in  its  day,  and  in  greater  or  less  degree 
the  end  designed  by  it.  Having  done  that,  it  has  sunk  into 
the  general  mass  of  stale  and  loathed  calumnies.  It  is  the 
very  cast-off  slough  of  a  polluted  and  shameless  press. 
Incapable  of  further  mischief,  it  lies  in  the  sewer,  lifeless 
and  despised.  It  is  not  now,  sir,  in  the  power  of  the  honor- 
able member  to  give  it  dignity  or  decency  by  attempting  to 
elevate  it,  and  to  introduce  it  into  the  Senate.  He  cannot 
change  it  from  what  it  is,  an  object  of  general  disgust  and 
scorn.  On  the  contrary,  the  contact,  if  he  choose  to  touch 
it,  is  more  likely  to  drag  him  down,  down,  to  the  place 
where  it  lies  itself. 

But,  sir,  the  honorable  member  was  not,  for  other  rea- 
sons, entirely  happy  in  his  allusion  to  the  story  of  Ban- 
quo's  murder  and  Banquo's  ghost.  It  was  not,  I  think, 
the  friends,  but  the  enemies  of  the  murdered  Banquo,  at 
whose  bidding  his  spirit  would  not  down.  The  honorable 
gentleman  is  fresh  in  his  reading  of  the  English  olassici. 


THE  REPLY  TO  HAYNB 


179 


and  can  put  me  right  if  I  am  wrong;  but,  according  to 
my  poor  recollection,  it  was  at  those  who  had  begun  with 
caresses,  and  ended  with  foul  and  treacherous  murder,  that 
the  gory  locks  were  shaken!  The  ghost  of  Banquo,  like 
that  of  Hamlet,  was  an  honest  ghost.  It  disturbed  no 
innocent  man.  It  knew  where  its  appearance  would  strike 
terror,  and  who  would  cry  out,  A  ghost!  It  made  itself 
visible  in  the  right  quarter,  and  compelled  the  guilty  and 
the  conscience-smitten,  and  none  others,  to  start  with — 

"Pr'ythee,  see  there  1  behold !— look !  loP 
If  I  stand  here,  I  saw  himl" 

Their  eyeballs  were  seared  (was  it  not  so,  sir?)  who  had 
thought  to  shield  themselves  by  concealing  their  own  hand 
and  laying  the  imputation  of  the  crime  on  a  low  and  hire- 
ling agency  in  wickedness;  who  had  vainly  attempted  to 
stifle  the  workings  of  their  own  coward  consciences  by 
ejaculating,  through  white  lips  and  chattering  teeth:  "Thou 
canst  not  say  I  did  it!"  I  have  misread  the  great  poet  if 
those  who  had  in  no  way  partaken  in  the  deed  of  the  death 
either  found  that  they  were,  or  feared  that  they  should  be, 
pushed  from  their  stools  by  the  ghost  of  the  slain,  or  ex- 
claimed to  a  spectre  created  by  their  own  fears  and  their 
own  remorse:  "A vaunt!  and  quit  our  sight!" 

There  is  another  particular,  sir,  in  which  the  honorable 
member's  quick  perception  of  resemblances  might,  I  should 
think,  have  seen  something  in  the  story  of  Banquo,  making 
it  not  altogether  a  subject  of  the  most  pleasant  contempla- 
tion. Those  who  murdered  Banquo,  what  did  they  win  by 
it?  Substantial  good ?  Permanent  power  ?  Or  disappoint- 
ment, rather,  and  sore  mortification — dust  and  ashes — the 


'  Mr.  Webster  quoted  from  memory.    See  "Macbeth,"  Scene  4,  Act  4. 


180 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


common  fate  of  vaulting  ambition,  overleaping  itself  ?  Did 
not  even-handed  justice  erelong  commend  the  poisoned 
chalice  to  their  own  lips  ?  Did  they  not  soon  find  that  for 
another  they  had  **filed  their  mind"?  that  their  ambition, 
though  apparently  for  the  moment  successful,  had  but  put 
a  barren  sceptre  in  their  grasp  ?    Ay,  sir — 

•*A  barren  sceptre  in  their  gripe, 
Thence  to  be  wrenched  by  an  unlineal  hand, 
No  son  of  theirs  succeeding." 

Sir,  I  need  pursue  the  allusion  no  further.  1  leave  the 
honorable  gentleman  to  run  it  out  at  his  leisure,  and  to 
derive  from  it  all  the  gratification  it  is  calculated  to  admin- 
ister. If  he  find  himself  pleased  with  the  associations  and 
prepared  to  be  quite  satisfied,  though  the  parallel  should 
be  entirely  completed,  1  had  almost  said,  I  am  satisfied  also 
— but  that  1  shall  think  of.    Yes,  sir,  I  will  think  of  that. 

In  the  course  of  my  observations  the  other  day,  Mr. 
President,  I  paid  a  passing  tribute  of  respect  to  a  very 
worthy  man,  Mr.  Dane,  of  Massachusetts.  It  so  happened 
that  he  drew  the  Ordinance  of  1787  for  the  government  of 
the  Northwestern  Territory.  A  man  of  so  much  ability  and 
so  little  pretence ;  of  so  great  a  capacity  to  do  good  and  so 
unmixed  a  disposition  to  do  it  for  its  own  sake;  a  gentle- 
man who  had  acted  an  important  part  forty  years  ago,  in  a 
measure  the  influence  of  which  is  still  deeply  felt  in  the 
very  matter  which  was  the  subject  of  debate,  might,  I 
thought,  receive  from  me  a  commendatory  recognition. 

But  the  honorable  member  was  inclined  to  be  facetious 
on  the  subject.  He  was  rather  disposed  to  make  it  matter 
of  ridicule  that  I  had  introduced  into  the  debate  the  name 
of  one  Nathan  Dane,  of  whom  he  assures  us  he  had  never 
before  heard.    Sir,  if  the  honorable  member  had  never  be- 


THE  REPLY  TO  HAYNI 


181 


fore  heard  of  Mr.  Dane,  I  am  sorry  for  it.  It  shows  him 
less  acquainted  with  the  public  men  of  the  country  than 
1  had  supposed.  Let  me  tell  him,  however,  that  a  sneer 
from  him  at  the  mention  of  the  name  of  Mr.  Dane  is  in  bad 
taste.  It  may  well  be  a  high  mark  of  ambition,  sir,  either 
with  the  honorable  gentleman  or  myself,  to  accomplish  as 
much  to  make  our  names  known  to  advantage,  and  remem- 
bered with  gratitude,  as  Mr.  Dane  has  accomplished.  But 
the  truth  is,  sir,  I  suspect  that  Mr.  Dane  lives  a  little  too 
far  north.  He  is  of  Massachusetts,  and  too  near  the  north 
star  to  be  reached  by  the  honorable  gentleman's  telescope. 
If  his  sphere  had  happened  to  range  south  of  Mason  and 
Dixon's  Line,  he  might,  probably,  have  come  within  the 
scope  of  his  vision! 

I  spoke,  sir,  of  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  which  prohibited 
slavery  in  all  future  times,  northwest  of  the  Ohio,  as  a 
measure  of  great  wisdom  and  foresight,  and  one  which  had 
been  attended  with  highly  beneficial  and  permanent  conse- 
quences. I  supposed  that  on  this  point  no  two  gentlemen 
in  the  Senate  could  entertain  different  opinions.  But  the 
simple  expression  of  this  sentiment  has  led  the  gentleman, 
not  only  into  a  labored  defence  of  slavery,  in  the  abstract, 
and  on  principle,  but,  also,  into  a  warm  accusation  against 
me,  as  having  attacked  the  system  of  domestic  slavery  now 
existing  in  the  Southern  States.  For  all  this  there  was  not 
the  slightest  foundation  in  anything  said  or  intimated  by 
me.  I  did  not  utter  a  single  word  which  any  ingenuity 
could  torture  into  an  attack  on  the  slavery  of  the  South. 
I  said  only  that  it  was  highly  wise  and  useful  in  legislating 
for  the  northwestern  country,  while  it  was  yet  a  wilderness, 
to  prohibit  the  introduction  of  slaves;  and  added  that  I  pre- 
sumed, in  the  neighboring  State  of  Kentucky,  there  was  no 


182 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


reflecting  and  intelligent  gentleman  who  would  doubt  that 
it  the  same  prohibition  had  been  extended  at  the  same  early 
period  over  that  Commonwealth,  her  strength  and  popula- 
tion would,  at  this  day,  have  been  far  greater  than  they 
are.  If  these  opinions  be  thought  doubtful,  they  are, 
nevertheless,  1  trust,  neither  extraordinary  nor  disrespect- 
ful. They  attack  nobody  and  menace  nobody.  And  yet, 
sir,  the  gentleman's  optics  have  discovered,  even  in  the 
mere  expression  of  this  sentiment,  what  he  calls  the  very 
spirit  of  the  Missouri  question!  He  represents  me  as  mak- 
ing an  onset  on  the  whole  South,  and  manifesting  a  spirit 
which  would  interfere  with  and  disturb  their  domestic  con- 
dition! Sir,  this  injustice  no  otherwise  surprises  me  than 
as  it  is  committed  here,  and  committed  without  the  slightest 
pretence  of  ground  for  it.  I  say  it  only  surprises  me  as 
being  done  here;  for  I  know  full  well  that  it  is,  and  has 
been,  the  settled  policy  of  some  persons  in  the  South,  for 
years,  to  represent  the  people  of  the  North  as  disposed  to 
interfere  with  them  in  their  own  exclusive  and  peculiar 
concerns.  This  is  a  delicate  and  sensitive  point  in  South- 
ern feeling;  and  of  late  years  it  has  always  been  touched, 
and  generally  with  effect,  whenever  the  object  has  been 
to  unite  the  whole  South  against  Northern  men  or  Northern 
measures.  This  feeling,  always  carefully  kept  alive,  and 
maintained  at  too  intense  a  heat  to  admit  discrimination  or 
reflection,  is  a  lever  of  great  power  in  our  political  machine. 
It  moves  vast  bodies,  and  gives  to  them  one  and  the  same 
direction.  But  it  is  without  all  adequate  cause j  and  the 
suspicion  which  exists  wholly  groundless.  There  is  not, 
and  never  has  been,  a  disposition  in  the  North  to  interfere 
with  these  interests  of  the  South.  Such  interference  has 
never  been  supposed  to  be  within  the  power  oi  govern* 


THE  REPLY  TO  HAYNE 


183 


ment;  nor  has  it  been  in  any  way  attempted.  The  slavery 
of  the  South  has  always  been  regarded  a  matter  of  domestic 
policy,  left  with  the  States  themselves,  and  with  which  the 
Federal  Government  had  nothing  to  do.  Certainly,  sir,  I 
am  and  ever  have  been  of  that  opinion.  The  gentleman, 
indeed,  argues  that  slavery  in  the  abstract  is  no  evil.  Most 
assuredly  I  need  not  say  I  differ  with  him,  altogether  and 
most  widely,  on  that  point.  I  regard  domestic  slavery  as 
one  of  the  greatest  of  evils,  both  moral  and  political.  But 
though  it  be  a  malady,  and  whether  it  be  curable,  and  if  so, 
by  what  means;  or,  on  the  other  hand,  whether  it  be  the 
vulnus  immedicahile  of  the  social  system,  I  leave  it  to  those 
whose  right  and  duty  it  is  to  inquire  and  to  decide.  And 
this  I  believe,  sir,  is,  and  uniformly  has  been,  the  sentiment 
of  the  North.  Let  us  look  a  little  at  the  history  of  this 
matter. 

When  the  present  Constitution  was  submitted  for  the 
ratification  of  the  people,  there  were  those  who  imagined 
that  the  powers  of  the  government  which  it  proposed  to 
establish,  might,  perhaps,  in  some  possible  mode,  be  exerted 
in  measures  tending  to  the  abolition  of  slavery.  This  sug- 
gestion would,  of  course,  attract  much  attention  in  the 
Southern  conventions.  In  that  of  Virginia,  Governor  Ean- 
dolph  saidi 

"I  hope  there  is  none  here,  who,  considering  the  subject 
in  the  calm  light  of  philosophy,  will  make  an  objection  dis- 
honorable to  Virginia — that  at  the  moment  they  are  securing 
the  rights  of  their  citizens,  an  objection  is  started  that  there 
is  a  spark  of  hope  that  those  unfortunate  men  now  held  m 
bondage,  may,  by  the  operation  of  the  general  government, 
be  made  free." 

At  the  very  first  Congress,  petitions  on  the  subject  were 


184 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


presented,  if  I  mistake  not,  from  different  States.  The 
Pennsylvania  society  for  promoting  the  abolition  of  slavery 
took  the  lead,  and  laid  before  Congress  a  memorial,  praying 
Congress  to  promote  the  abolition  by  such  powers  as  it 
possessed.  This  memorial  was  referred,  in  the  House  of 
Eepresentatives,  to  a  select  committee,  consisting  of  Mr. 
Foster  of  New  Hampshire,  Mr.  Gerry  of  Massachusetts, 
Mr.  Huntington  of  Connecticut,  Mr.  Lawrence  of  New 
York,  Mr.  Sinnickson  of  New  Jersey,  Mr.  Hartley  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  Mr.  Parker  of  Virginia — all  of  them, 
sir,  as  you  will  observe,  Northern  men,  but  the  last.  This 
committee  made  a  report,  which  was  committed  to  a  com- 
mittee of  the  whole  House,  and  there  considered  and  dis- 
cussed on  several  days;  and  being  amended,  although  with- 
out material  alteration,  it  was  made  to  express  three  distinct 
propositions,  on  the  subject  of  slavery  and  the  slave  trade. 
First,  in  the  words  of  the  Constitution,  that  Congress  could 
not,  prior  to  the  year  1808,  prohibit  the  migration  or  im- 
portation of  such  persons  as  any  of  the  States  then  existing 
should  think  proper  to  admit.  Second,  that  Congress  had 
authority  to  restrain  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  from 
carrying  on  the  African  slave  trade,  for  the  purpose  of  sup- 
plying foreign  countries.  On  this  proposition,  our  early 
laws  against  those  who  engage  in  that  traffic  are  founded. 
The  third  proposition,  and  that  which  bears  on  the  present 
question  was  expressed  in  the  following  terms: 

Resolved^  That  Congress  have  no  authority  to  interfere 
in  the  emancipation  of  slaves,  or  in  the  treatment  of  them 
in  any  of  the  States;  it  remaining  with  the  several  States 
alone  to  provide  rules  and  regulations  therein,  which 
humanity  and  true  policy  may  require." 

This  resolution  received  the  sanction  of  the  House  of 


THE   REPLY  TO  HAYNB 


185 


Representatives  so  early  as  March,  1790.  And  now,  sir, 
the  honorable  member  will  allow  me  to  remind  him  that 
not  only  were  the  select  committee  who  reported  the  reso- 
lution, with  a  single  exception,  all  Northern  men,  but  also 
that  of  the  members  then  composing  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  a  large  majority,  I  believe  nearly  two-thirds, 
were  Northern  men  also. 

The  House  agreed  to  insert  these  resolutions  in  its  jour- 
nal; and  from  that  day  to  this,  it  has  never  been  main- 
tained or  contended  that  Congress  had  any  authority  to 
regulate  or  interfere  with  the  condition  of  slaves  in  the 
several  States.  No  Northern  gentleman,  to  my  knowledge, 
has  moved  any  such  question  in  either  House  of  Congress. 

The  fears  of  the  South,  whatever  fears  they  might  have 
entertained,  were  allayed  and  quieted  by  this  early  deci- 
sion; and  so  remained,  till  they  were  excited  afresh,  without 
cause,  but  for  collateral  and  indirect  purposes.  When  it 
became  necessary,  or  was  thought  so,  by  some  political  per- 
sons, to  find  an  unvarying  ground  for  the  exclusion  of 
Northern  men  from  confidence  and  from  the  lead  in  the 
affairs  of  the  Republic,  then,  and  not  till  then,  the  cry 
was  raised,  and  the  feeling  industriously  excited,  that  the 
influence  of  Northern  men  in  the  public  councils  would 
endanger  the  relation  of  master  and  slave.  For  myself,  I 
claim  no  other  merit  than  that  this  gross  and  enormous 
injustice  toward  the  whole  North  has  not  wrought  upon 
me  to  change  my  opinions  or  my  political  conduct.  I  hope 
I  am  above  violating  my  principles,  even  under  the  smart 
of  injury  and  false  imputations.  Unjust  suspicions  and 
undeserved  reproach,  whatever  pain  1  may  experience  from 
them,  will  not  induce  me,  1  trust,  nevertheless,  to  overstep 
the  limits  of  constitutional  duty,  or  to  encroach  on  the 


186 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


rights  of  others.  The  domestic  slavery  of  the  South  1 
leave  where  I  find  it — in  the  hands  of  their  own  govern- 
ments. It  is  their  affair,  not  mine.  Nor  do  I  complain  of 
the  peculiar  effect  which  the  magnitude  of  that  population 
has  had  in  the  distribution  of  power  under  this  Federal 
Government.  We  know,  sir,  that  the  representation  of  the 
States  in  the  other  House  is  not  equal.  We  know  that 
great  advantage  in  that  respect  is  enjoyed  by  the  slavehold- 
ing  States;  and  we  know,  too,  that  the  intended  equivalent 
for  that  advantage,  that  is  to  say,  the  imposition  of  direct 
taxes  in  the  same  ratio,  has  become  merely  nominal,  the 
habit  of  the  government  being  almost  invariably  to  collect 
its  revenue  from  other  sources  and  in  other  modes.  Never- 
theless, I  do  not  complain,  nor  would  I  countenance  any 
movement  to  alter  this  arrangement  of  representation.  It 
is  the  original  bargain,  the  compact — let  it  stand;  let  the 
advantage  of  it  be  fully  enjoyed.  The  Union  itself  is  too 
full  of  benefit  to  be  hazarded  in  propositions  for  changing 
its  original  basis.  I  go  for  the  Constitution  as  it  is,  and  for 
the  Union  as  it  is.  But  I  am  resolved  not  to  submit  in 
silence  to  accusations,  either  against  myself,  individually, 
or  against  the  North,  wholly  unfounded  and  unjust;  accu- 
sations which  impute  to  us  a  disposition  to  evade  the  con- 
stitutional compact,  and  to  extend  the  power  of  the  govern- 
ment over  the  internal  laws  and  domestic  condition  of  the 
States.  All  such  accusations,  wherever  and  whenever  made, 
all  insinuations  of  the  existence  of  any  such  purposes,  I 
know  and  feel  to  be  groundless  and  injurious.  And  we 
must  confide  in  Southern  gentlemen  themselves;  we  must 
trust  to  those  whose  integrity  of  heart  and  magnanimity 
of  feeling  will  lead  them  to  a  desire  to  maintain  and  dis- 
seminate truth,  and  who  possess  the  means  of  its  diffusion 


THE   REPLY   TO  HAYNE 


187 


with  the  Southern  public ;  we  must  leave  it  to  them  to  dis- 
abuse that  public  of  its  prejudices.  But,  in  the  meantime, 
for  my  own  part,  I  shall  continue  to  act  justly,  whether 
those  toward  whom  justice  is  exercised  receive  it  with  can- 
dor or  with  contumely. 

Having  had  occasion  to  recur  to  the  Ordinance  of  1787, 
in  order  to  defend  myself  against  the  inferences  which  the 
honorable  member  has  chosen  to  draw  from  my  former  ob- 
servations on  that  subject,  I  am  not  willing  now  entirely 
to  take  leave  of  it  without  another  remark.  It  need  hardly 
be  said  that  that  paper  expresses  just  sentiments  on  the 
great  subject  of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  Such  senti- 
ments were  common,  and  abound  in  all  our  State  papers 
of  that  day.  But  this  ordinance  did  that  which  was  not 
so  common,  and  which  is  not,  even  now,  universal;  that 
is,  it  set  forth  and  declared,  as  a  high  and  binding  duty  of 
government  itself,  to  encourage  schools  and  advance  the 
means  of  education,  on  the  plain  reason  that  religion,  mo- 
rality, and  knowledge  are  necessary  to  good  government 
and  to  the  happiness  of  mankind.  One  observation  further. 
The  important  provision  incorporated  into  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  and  several  of  those  of  the  States,  and 
recently,  as  we  have  seen,  adopted  into  the  reformed  Con- 
stitution of  Virginia,  restraining  legislative  power  in  ques- 
tions of  private  right,  and  from  impairing  the  obligation  of 
contracts,  is  first  introduced  and  established,  as  far  as  I  am 
informed,  as  matter  of  express  written  constitutional  law,  in 
this  Ordinance  of  1787.  And  1  must  add,  also,  in  regard  to 
the  author  of  the  ordinance,  who  has  not  had  the  happiness 
to  attract  the  gentleman's  notice,  heretofore,  nor  to  avoid  his 
sarcasm  now,  that  he  was  chairman  of  that  select  committee 
of  the  old  Congress,  whose  report  first  expressed  the  strong 


188 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


sense  of  that  body,  that  the  old  Confederation  was  not  ade- 
quate to  the  exigencies  of  the  country,  and  recommending  to 
the  States  to  send  delegates  to  the  Convention  which  formed 
the  present  Constitution. 

An  attempt  has  been  made  to  transfer  from  the  North 
to  the  South  the  honor  of  this  exclasion  of  slavery  from  the 
Northwestern  Territory.  The  journal,  without  argument  or 
comment,  refutes  such  attempt.  The  cession  by  Virginia 
was  made  March,  1784.  On  the  nineteenth  of  April  follow- 
ing, a  committee,  consisting  of  Messrs.  Jefferson,  Chase  and 
Howell,  reported  a  plan  for  a  temporary  government  of  the 
Territory,  in  which  was  this  article:  "That,  after  the  year 
1800,  there  shall  be  neither  slavery,  nor  involuntary  servi- 
tude in  any  of  the  said  States,  otherwise  than  in  punishment 
of  crimes,  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  convicted." 
Mr.  Spaight,  of  North  Carolina,  moved  to  strike  out  this 
paragraph.  The  question  was  put  according  to  the  form 
then  practiced:  "Shall  these  words  stand  as  part  of  the 
plan,"  etc.  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  Ehode  Island, 
Connecticut,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and  Pennsylvania — 
seven  States — voted  in  the  affirmative;  Maryland,  Virginia, 
and  South  Carolina  in  the  negative.  North  Carolina  was 
divided.  As  the  consent  of  nine  States  was  necessary,  the 
words  could  not  stand,  and  were  struck  out  accordingly. 
Mr.  Jefferson  voted  for  the  clause,  but  was  overruled  by 
his  colleagues. 

In  March  of  the  next  year  (1785),  Mr.  King,  of  Massa- 
chusetts, seconded  by  Mr.  Ellery,  of  Ehode  Island,  proposed 
the  formerly  rejected  article,  with  this  addition:  "And  that 
this  regulation  shall  be  an  article  of  compact,  and  remain  a 
fundamental  principle  of  the  constitutions  between  the  thir- 
teen original  States,  and  each  of  the  States  described  in  the 


THE   REPLY  TO  HAYNB 


l89 


resolve/*  etc.  On  this  clause,  which  provided  the  adequate 
and  thorough  security,  the  eight  Northern  States  of  that 
time  voted  affirmatively,  and  the  four  Southern  States  nega- 
tively. The  votes  of  nine  States  were  not  yet  obtained,  and 
thus  the  provision  was  again  rejected  by  the  Southern  States. 
The  perseverance  of  the  North  held  out,  and  two  years  after- 
ward the  object  was  attained.  It  is  no  derogation  from  the 
credit,  whatever  that  may  be,  of  drawing  the  ordinance,  that 
its  principles  had  before  been  prepared  and  discussed  in  the 
form  of  resolutions.  If  one  should  reason  in  that  way,  what 
would  become  of  the  distinguished  honor  of  the  author  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  ?  There  is  not  a  sentiment 
in  that  paper  which  had  not  been  voted  and  resolved  in  the 
assemblies  and  other  popular  bodies  in  the  country  over  and 
over  again. 

But  the  honorable  member  has  now  found  out  that  this 
gentleman  [Mr.  Dane]  was  a  member  of  the  Hartford  Con- 
vention. However  uninformed  the  honorable  member  may 
be  of  characters  and  occurrences  at  the  North,  it  would  seem 
that  he  has  at  his  elbow  on  this  occasion  some  high-minded 
and  lofty  spirit,  some  magnanimous  and  true-hearted  moni- 
tor, possessing  the  means  of  local  knowledge,  and  ready  to 
supply  the  honorable  member  with  everything  down  even 
to  forgotten  and  moth-eaten  twopenny  pamphlets,  which 
may  be  used  to  the  disadvantage  of  his  own  country.  But 
as  to  the  Hartford  Convention,  sir,  allow  me  to  say  that 
the  proceedings  of  that  body  seem  now  to  be  less  read  and 
studied  in  New  England  than  further  south.  They  appear 
to  be  looked  to,  not  in  New  England,  but  elsewhere,  for  the 
purpose  of  seeing  how  far  they  may  serve  as  a  precedent. 
But  they  will  not  answer  the  purpose — they  are  quite  too 
tame.    The  latitude  in  which  they  originated  was  too  cold. 


190 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


Other  conventions  of  more  recent  existence  have  gone  a 
whole  bar's  length  beyond  it.  The  learned  doctors  of  Col- 
leton and  Abbeville  have  pushed  their  commentaries  on  the 
Hartford  collect  so  far  that  the  original  text  writers  are 
thrown  entirely  into  the  shade.  I  have  nothing  to  do,  sir, 
with  the  Hartford  Convention.  Its  journal,  which  the  gen- 
tleman has  quoted,  I  never  read.  So  far  as  the  honorable 
member  may  discover  in  its  proceedings  a  spirit  in  any  de- 
gree resembling  that  which  was  avowed  and  justified  in 
those  other  conventions  to  which  I  have  alluded,  or  so  far 
as  those  proceedings  can  be  shown  to  be  disloyal  to  the 
Constitution,  or  tending  to  disunion,  so  far  I  shall  be  as 
ready  as  any  one  to  bestow  on  them  reprehension  and 
censure. 

Having  dwelt  long  on  this  convention,  and  other  oc- 
currences of  that  day,  in  the  hope,  probably  (which  will 
not  be  gratified),  that  I  should  leave  the  course  of  this 
debate  to  follow  him,  at  length,  in  those  excursions,  the 
honorable  member  returned  and  attempted  another  object. 
He  referred  to  a  speech  of  mine  in  the  other  House,  the 
same  which  I  had  occasion  to  allude  to  myself  the  other 
day,  and  has  quoted  a  passage  or  two  from  it  with  a  bold, 
though  uneasy  and  laboring  air  of  confidence,  as  if  he  had 
detected  in  me  an  inconsistency.  Judging  from  the  gentle- 
man's manner,  a  stranger  to  the  course  of  the  debate,  and 
to  the  point  in  discussion,  would  have  imagined  from  so 
triumphant  a  tone  that  the  honorable  member  was  about 
to  overwhelm  me  with  a  manifest  contradiction.  Any  one 
who  heard  him,  and  who  had  not  heard  what  I  had,  in  fact, 
previously  said,  must  have  thought  me  routed  and  discom- 
fited, as  the  gentleman  had  promised.  Sir,  a  breath  blows 
all  this  triumph  away.    There  is  not  the  slightest  difference 


THE   REPLY  TO  HAYNB 


191 


in  the  sentiments  of  my  remarks  on  the  two  occasions. 
What  I  said  here  on  Wednesday  is  in  exact  accordance 
with  the  opinion  expressed  by  me  in  the  other  House  in 
1825.  Though  the  gentleman  had  the  metaphysics  of  Hudi- 
bras,  though  he  were  able 

**To  sever  and  divide 
A  hair  'twixt  north  and  northwest  side,** 

he  yet  could  not  insert  his  metaphysical  scissors  between 
the  fair  reading  of  my  remarks  in  1825,  and  what  I  said 
here  last  week.  There  is  not  only  no  contradiction,  no  dif- 
ference, but,  in  truth,  too  exact  a  similarity,  both  in  thought 
and  language,  to  be  entirely  in  just  taste.  I  had  myself 
quoted  the  same  speech,  had  recurred  to  it,  and  spoke  with 
it  open  before  me,  and  much  of  what  I  said  was  little  more 
than  a  repetition  from  it.  In  order  to  make  finishing  work 
with  this  alleged  contradiction,  permit  me  to  recur  to  the 
origin  of  this  debate  and  review  its  course.  This  seems 
expedient  and  may  be  done  as  well  now  as  at  any  time. 

Well,  then,  its  history  is  this;  The  honorable  member 
from  Connecticut  moved  a  resolution,  which  constitutes  the 
first  branch  of  that  which  is  now  before  us;  that  is  to  say, 
a  resolution  instructing  the  Committee  on  Public  Lands  to 
inquire  into  the  expediency  of  limiting,  for  a  certain  period, 
the  sales  of  the  public  lands,  to  such  as  have  heretofore  been 
offered  for  sale ;  and  whether  sundry  offices  connected  with 
the  sales  of  the  lands  might  not  be  abolished  without  detri- 
ment to  the  public  service. 

In  the  progress  of  the  discussion  which  arose  on  this 
resolution,  an  honorable  member  from  New  Hampshire 
moved  to  amend  the  resolution  so  as  entirely  to  reverse  its 
object;  that  is  to  strike  it  all  out  and  insert  a  direction  to 


192 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


the  committee  to  inquire  into  the  expediency  of  adopting 
measures  to  hasten  the  sales  and  extend  more  rapidly  the 
surveys  of  the  lands. 

The  honorable  member  from  Maine,  Mrc  Sprague,  sug- 
gested that  both  those  propositions  might  well  enough  go 
for  consideration  to  the  committee ;  and  in  this  state  of  the 
question,  the  member  from  South  Carolina  addressed  the 
Senate  in  his  first  speech.  He  rose,  he  said,  to  give  us  his 
own  free  thoughts  on  the  public  landSo  I  saw  him  rise  with 
pleasure  and  listened  with  expectation,  though  before  he 
concluded  1  was  filled  with  surprise.  Certainly,  I  was 
never  more  surprised  than  to  find  him  following  up,  to 
the  extent  he  did,  the  sentiments  and  opinions  which  the 
gentleman  from  Missouri  had  put  forth,  and  which  it  is 
known  he  has  long  entertained. 

I  need  not  repeat  at  large  the  general  topics  of  the  hon- 
orable gentleman's  speech.  When  he  said  yesterday  that 
he  did  not  attack  the  Eastern  States,  he  certainly  must 
have  forgotten,  not  only  particular  remarks,  but  the  whole 
'  drift  and  tenor  of  his  speech;  unless  he  means  by  not  at- 
tacking, that  he  did  not  commence  hostilities — ^but  that 
another  had  preceded  him  in  the  attack.  He,  in  the  first 
place,  disapproved  of  the  whole  course  of  the  government, 
for  forty  years,  in  regard  to  its  dispositions  of  the  public 
land;  and  then  turning  northward  and  eastward,  and  fan- 
cying he  had  found  a  cause  for  alleged  narrowness  and 
niggardliness  in  the  *' accursed  policy"  of  the  tariff,  to 
which  he  represented  the  people  of  Kew  England  as 
wedded,  he  went  on  for  a  full  hour  with  remarks,  the 
whole  scope  of  which  was  to  exhibit  the  results  of  this 
policy,  in  feelings  and  in  measures  unfavorable  to  the 
West.    I  thought  his  opinions  unfounded  and  erroneous 


THE   REPLY  TO  IIAYNE 


193 


as  to  the  general  course  of  the  government,  and  ventured  to 
reply  to  them. 

The  gentleman  had  remarked  on  the  analogy  of  other 
cases,  and  quoted  the  conduct  of  European  governments 
toward  their  own  subjects,  settling  on  this  continent,  as  in 
point  to  show  that  we  had  been  harsh  and  rigid  in  selling, 
when  we  should  have  given  the  public  lands  to  settlers  with- 
out price.  I  thought  the  honorable  member  had  suffered 
his  judgment  to  be  betrayed  by  a  false  analogy;  that  he 
was  .struck  with  an  appearance  of  resemblance  where  there 
was  no  real  similitude.  I  think  so  still.  The  first  settlers 
of  North  America  were  enterprising  spirits,  engaged  in  pri- 
vate adventure  or  fleeing  from  tyranny  at  home.  When  ar- 
rived here  they  were  forgotten  by  the  mother  country,  or 
remembered  only  to  be  oppressed.  Carried  away  again  by 
the  appearance  of  analogy,  or  struck  with  the  eloquence  of 
ihe  passage,  the  honorable  member  yesterday  observed  that 
the  conduct  of  government  toward  the  Western  emigrants, 
or  my  representation  of  it,  brought  to  his  mind  a  celebrated 
speech  in  the  British  Parliament.  It  was,  sir,  the  speech 
of  Colonel  Barre.  On  the  question  of  the  Stamp  Act,  or 
tea  tax,  I  forget  which,  Colonel  Barre  had  heard  a  member 
on  the  Treasury  bench  argue  that  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  being  British  colonists,  planted  by  the  maternal  care, 
nourished  by  the  indulgence,  and  protected  by  the  arms  of 
England,  would  not  grudge  their  mite  to  relieve  the  mother 
country  from  the  heavy  burden  under  which  she  groaned. 
The  language  of  Colonel  Barre,  in  reply  to  this,  was:  They 
planted  by  your  care?  Your  oppression  planted  them  in 
America.  They  fled  from  your  tyranny,  and  grew  by  your 
neglect  of  them.  So  soon  as  you  began  to  care  for  them, 
you  showed  your  care  by  sending  persons  to  spy  out.  their 

Vol.  5—13 


194 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


liberties,  misrepresent  their  character,  prej  upon  them  and 
eat  out  their  substance. 

And  how  does  the  honorable  gentleman  mean  to  main- 
tain that  language  like  this  is  applicable  to  the  conduct  of 
the  government  of  the  United  States  toward  the  Western 
emigrants,  or  to  any  representation  given  by  me  of  that 
conduct?  Were  the  settlers  in  the  West  driven  thither 
by  our  oppression?  Have  they  flourished  only  by  our 
neglect  of  them?  Has  the  government  done  nothing  but 
to  prey  upon  them  and  eat  out  their  substance  ?  Sir,  this 
fervid  eloquence  of  the  British  speaker,  just  when  and 
where  it  was  uttered,  and  fit  to  remain  an  exercise  for 
the  schools,  is  not  a  little  out  of  place  when  it  is  brought 
thence  to  be  applied  here  to  the  conduct  of  our  own  country 
toward  her  own  citizens.  From  America  to  England,  it  may 
be  true;  from  Americans  to  their  own  government  it  would 
be  strange  language.  Let  us  leave  it  to  be  recited  and  de- 
claimed by  our  boys  against  a  foreign  nation;  not  introduce 
it  here,  to  recite  and  declaim  ourselves  against  our  own. 

But  I  come  to  the  point  of  the  alleged  contradiction.  In 
my  remarks  on  Wednesday  I  contended  that  we  could  not 
give  away  gratuitously  all  the  public  lands;  that  we  held 
them  in  trust;  that  the  government  had  solemnly  pledged 
itself  to  dispose  of  them  as  a  common  fund  for  the  common 
benefit,  and  to  sell  and  settle  them  as  its  discretion  should 
dictate.  Kow,  sir,  what  contradiction  does  the  gentleman 
find  to  this  sentiment,  in  the  speech  of  1825?  He  quotes 
me  as  having  then  said  that  we  ought  not  to  hug  these  lands 
as  a  very  great  treasure.  Yery  well,  sir,  supposing  me  to 
be  accurately  reported  in  that  expression,  what  is  the  con- 
tradiction ?  I  have  not  now  said  that  we  should  hug  these 
lands  as  a  favorite  source  of  pecuniary  income.    No  such 


THK   REPLY  TO  HAYNE 


195 


thing.  It  is  not  my  view.  What  1  have  said,  and  what  I 
do  say,  is  that  they  are  a  common  fund — to  be  disposed  of 
for  the  common  benefit — to  be  sold  at  low  prices  for  the  ac- 
commodation of  settlers,  keeping  the  object  of  settling  the 
lands  as  much  in  view  as  that  of  raising  money  from  them. 
This  I  say  now,  and  this  I  have  always  said.  Is  this  hug- 
ging them  as  a  favorite  treasure?  Is  there  no  difference 
between  hugging  and  hoarding  this  fund,  on  the  one  hand, 
as  a  great  treasure,  and,  on  the  other,  of  disposing  of  it  at 
low  prices,  placing  the  proceeds  in  the  general  treasury  of 
the  Union  ?  My  opinion  is  that  as  much  is  to  be  made  of 
the  land  as  fairly  and  reasonably  may  be,  selling  it  all  the 
while  at  such  rates  as  to  give  the  fullest  effect  to  settlement. 
This  is  not  giving  it  all  away  to  the  States,  as  the  gentleman 
would  propose;  nor  is  it  hugging  the  fund  closely  and  tena- 
ciously, as  a  favorite  treasure;  but  it  is,  in  my  judgment, 
a  just  and  wise  policy,  perfectly  according  with  all  the 
various  duties  which  rest  on  government.  So  much  for 
my  contradiction.  And  what  is  it  ?  Where  is  the  ground 
for  the  gentleman's  triumph  ?  What  inconsistency  in  word 
or  doctrine  has  he  been  able  to  detect?  Sir,  if  this  be  a 
sample  of  that  discomfiture,  with  which  the  honorable  gen- 
tleman threatened  me,  commend  me  to  the  word  discomfi- 
ture for  the  rest  of  my  life. 

But,  after  all,  this  is  not  the  point  of  the  debate,  and  I 
must  now  bring  the  gentleman  back  to  what  is  the  point. 

The  real  question  between  me  and  him  is:  Has  the  doc- 
trine been  advanced  at  the  South  or  the  East,  that  the  popu- 
lation of  the  West  should  be  retarded,  or  at  least  need  not 
be  hastened,  on  account  of  its  effect  to  drain  off  the  people 
from  the  Atlantic  States  ?  Is  this  doctrine,  as  has  been  al- 
leged, of  Eastern  origin  ?    That  is  the  question.    Has  the 


196 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


gentleman  found  anything  by  which  he  can  make  good  his 
accusation  ?  I  submit  to  the  Senate,  that  he  has  entirely 
failed;  and  as  far  as  this  debate  has  shown,  the  only  per- 
son who  has  advanced  such  sentiments  is  a  gentleman  from 
South  Carolina,  and  a  friend  to  the  honorable  member  him- 
self. The  honorable  gentleman  has  given  no  answer  to  this; 
there  is  Done  which  can  be  given.  The  simple  fact,  while  it 
requires  no  comment  to  enforce  it,  defies  all  argument  to  re- 
fute it.  I  could  refer  to  the  speeches  of  another  Southern 
gentleman,  in  years  before,  of  the  same  general  character, 
and  to  the  same  effect,  as  that  which  has  been  quoted;  but 
I  will  not  consume  the  time  of  the  Senate  by  the  reading  of 
them. 

So  then,  sir,  New  England  is  guiltless  of  the  policy  of 
retarding  Western  population,  and  of  all  envy  and  jealousy 
of  the  growth  of  the  new  States.  Whatever  there  be  of  that 
policy  in  the  country,  no  part  of  it  is  hers.  If  it  has  a  local 
habitation,  the  honorable  member  has  probably  seen,  by  this 
time,  where  to  look  for  it;  and  if  it  now  has  received  a  name, 
he  has  himself  christened  it. 

We  approach,  at  length,  sir,  to  a  more  important  part  of 
the  honorable  gentleman's  observations.  Since  it  does  not 
accord  with  my  views  of  justice  and  policy  to  give  away  the 
public  lands  altogether,  as  mere  matter  of  gratuity,  I  am 
asked  by  the  honorable  gentleman  on  what  ground  it  is  that 
I  consent  to  vote  them  away  in  particular  instances  ?  How, 
he  inquires,  do  I  reconcile  with  these  professed  sentiments 
my  support  of  measures  appropriating  portions  of  the  lands 
to  particular  roads,  particular  canals,  particular  rivers,  and 
particular  institutions  of  education  in  the  West?  This  leads, 
sir,  to  the  real  and  wide  difference,  in  political  opinion,  be- 
tween the  honoraA;)le  gentleman  and  myself.    On  mj  part,  I 


THE   REPLY  TO  HAYNE 


197 


look  upon  all  these  objects  as  connected  with  the  common 
good,  fairly  embraced  in  its  object  and  its  terms;  he,  on 
the  contrary,  deems  them  all,  if  good  at  all,  only  local  good. 
Tliis  is  our  difference.  The  interrogatory  which  he  pro- 
ceeded to  put,  at  once  explains  this  difference.  "What  in- 
terest," asks  he,  *'has  South  Carolina  in  a  canal  in  Ohio?" 
Sir,  this  very  question  is  full  of  significance.  It  develops 
the  gentleman's  whole  political  system;  and  its  answer  ex- 
pounds mine.  Here  we  differ.  I  look  upon  a  road  over  the 
Alleghany,  a  canal  round  the  falls  of  the  Ohio,  or  a  canal  or 
railway  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Western  waters,  as  being 
an  object  large  and  extensive  enough  to  be  fairly  said  to  be 
for  the  common  benefit.  The  gentleman  thinks  otherwise, 
and  this  is  the  key  to  open  his  construction  of  the  powers 
of  the  government.  He  may  well  ask:  What  interest  has 
South  Carolina  in  a  canal  in  Ohio?  On  his  system,  it  is 
true,  she  has  no  interest.  On  that  system,  Ohio  and  Caro- 
lina are  different  governments  and  different  countries:  con- 
nected here,  it  is  true,  by  some  slight  and  ill-defined  bond 
of  union,  but,  in  all  main  respects,  separate  and  diverse. 
On  that  system,  Carolina  has  no  more  interest  in  a  canal 
in  Ohio  than  in  Mexico.  The  gentleman,  therefore,  only 
follows  out  his  own  principles;  he  does  no  more  than  ar- 
rive at  the  natural  conclusions  of  his  own  doctrines;  he 
only  announces  the  true  results  of  that  creed,  which  he 
has  adopted  himself,  and  would  persuade  others  to  adopt, 
when  he  thus  declares  that  South  Carolina  has  no  interest 
in  a  public  work  in  Ohio.  Sir,  we  narrow-minded  people  of 
New  England  do  not  reason  thus.  Our  notion  things  is 
entirely  different.  We  look  upon  the  States,  not  as  sepa- 
rated, but  as  united.  We  love  to  dwell  on  that  union,  and 
on  the  mutual  happiness  which  it  has  so  much  promoted, 


198 


DANIEL  AVEBSTER 


and  the  common  renown  which  it  has  so  greatly  contributed 
to  acquire.  In  oar  contemplatioQ,  Carolina  and  Ohio  are 
parts  of  the  same  country;  States,  united  under  the  same 
general  government,  having  interests,  common,  associated, 
intermingled,  in  whatever  is  within  the  proper  sphere  of 
the  constitutional  power  of  this  government,  we  look  upon 
the  States  as  one.  We  do  not  impose  geographical  limits 
to  our  patriotic  feeling  or  regard;  we  do  not  follow  rivers 
and  mountains,  and  lines  of  latitude,  to  find  boundaries  be- 
yond which  public  improvements  do  not  benefit  us.  We 
who  come  here  as  agents  and  representatives  of  these  nar- 
row-minded and  selfish  men  of  JSIew  England  consider  our- 
selves as  bound  to  regard,  with  an  equal  eye,  the  good  of 
the  whole,  in  whatever  is  within  our  power  of  legislation. 
Sir,  if  a  railroad  or  canal,  beginning  in  South  Carolina  and 
ending  in  South  Carolina,  appeared  to  me  to  be  of  natural 
importance  and  national  magnitude,  believing,  as  I  do,  that 
the  power  of  government  extends  to  the  encouragement  of 
works  of  that  description,  if  I  were  to  stand  up  here,  and 
ask:  What  interest  has  Massachusetts  in  a  railroad  in  South 
Carolina  ?  I  should  not  be  willing  to  face  my  constituents. 
These  same  narrow-minded  men  would  tell  me  that  they  had 
sent  me  to  act  for  the  whole  country,  and  that  one  who  pos- 
sessed too  little  comprehension,  either  of  intellect  or  feeling; 
one  who  was  not  large  enough,  both  in  mind  and  in  heart,  to 
embrace  the  whole,  was  not  fit  to  be  intrusted  with  the  inter- 
est of  any  part.  Sir,  I  do  not  desire  to  enlarge  the  powers  of 
the  government,  by  unjustifiable  construction;  nor  to  exPi.*- 
cise  any  not  within  a  fair  interpretation.  But  when  it  is  oe- 
lieved  that  a  power  does  exist,  then  it  is,  in  my  judgment,  to 
be  exercised  for  the  general  benefit  of  the  whole.  So  far  as 
respects  the  exercise  of  such  a  power,  the  States  are  one.  It 


THE   REPLY  TO  HAYNE 


199 


was  the  very  object  of  the  Constitution  to  create  unity  of  in- 
terests to  the  extent  of  the  powers  of  the  general  government. 
In  war  and  peace  we  are  one;  in  commerce,  one;  because  the 
authority  of  the  general  government  reaches  to  war  and  peace, 
and  to  the  regulation  of  commerce.  I  have  never  seen  any 
more  difficulty  in  erecting  lighthouses  on  the  lakes  than  on 
the  ocean;  in  improving  the  harbors  of  inland  seas  than  if 
they  were  within  the  ebb  and  flow  of  the  tide;  or  of  remov- 
ing obstructions  in  the  vast  streams  of  the  West  more  than 
in  any  work  to  facilitate  commerce  on  the  Atlantic  coast. 
If  there  be  any  power  for  one,  there  is  power  also  for  the 
other;  and  they  are  all  and  equally  for  the  common  good  of 
the  country. 

There  are  other  objects  apparently  more  local,  or  the 
benefit  of  which  is  less  general,  toward  which,  nevertheless, 
I  have  concurred  with  others,  to  give  aid,  by  donations  of 
land.  It  is  proposed  to  construct  a  road,  in  or  through  one 
of  the  new  States,  in  which  this  government  possesses  large 
quantities  of  land.  Have  the  United  States  no  right,  or,  as 
a  great  and  untaxed  proprietor,  are  they  under  no  obligation 
to  contribute  to  an  object  thus  calculated  to  promote  the 
common  good  of  all  the  proprietors,  themselves  included? 
And  even  with  respect  to  education,  which  is  the  extreme 
case,  let  the  question  be  considered.  In  the  first  place,  as 
we  have  seen,  it  was  made  matter  of  compact  with  these 
States  that  they  should  do  their  part  to  promote  education. 
In  the  next  place,  our  whole  system  of  land  laws  proceeds 
on  the  idea  that  education  is  for  the  common  good ;  because, 
in  every  division,  a  certain  portion  is  uniformly  reserved 
and  appropriated  for  the  use  of  schools.  And,  finally,  have 
not  these  new  States  singularly  strong  claims,  founded  on 
the  ground  already  stated,  that  the  government  is  a  great 


200 


DAHIEL  WEBSTER 


untaxed  proprietor,  in  the  ownership  of  the  soil?  It  is  a 
consideration  of  great  importance,  that,  probably,  there  is 
in  no  part  of  the  country,  or  of  the  world,  so  great  call  for 
the  means  of  education  as  in  those  new  States — owing  to 
the  vast  numbers  of  persons  within  those  ages  in  which 
education  and  instruction  are  usually  received,  if  received 
at  all.  This  is  the  natural  consequence  of  recency  of  settle- 
ment and  rapid  increase.  The  census  of  these  States  shows 
how  great  a  proportion  of  the  whole  population  occupies 
the  classes  between  infancy  and  manhood.  These  are  the 
wide  fields,  and  here  is  the  deep  and  quick  soil  for  the  seeds 
of  knowledge  and  virtue;  and  this  is  the  favored  season, 
the  very  springtime  for  sowing  them.  Let  them  be  dissemi- 
nated without  stint.  Let  them  be  scattered  with  a  bounti- 
ful broadcast.  Whatever  the  government  can  fairly  do 
toward  these  objects,  in  my  opinion,  ought  to  be  done. 

These,  sir,  are  the  grounds  succinctly  stated  on  which 
my  votes  for  grants  of  lands  for  particular  objects  rest; 
while  I  maintain,  at  the  same  time,  that  it  is  all  a  common 
fuitd  for  the  common  benefit.  And  reasons  like  these,  I 
presume,  have  influenced  the  votes  of  other  gentlemen  from 
Kew  England!  Those  who  have  a  different  view  of  the 
powers  of  the  government,  of  course,  come  to  different  con- 
clusions on  these  as  on  other  questions.  I  observed,  when 
speaking  on  this  subject  before,  that,  if  we  looked  to  any 
measure,  whether  for  a  road,  a  canal,  or  anything  else,  in- 
tended for  the  improvement  of  the  West,  it  would  be  found 
that,  if  the  New  England  ayes  were  struck  out  of  the  lists 
of  votes,  the  Southern  noes  would  always  have  rejected  the 
measure.  The  truth  of  this  has  not  been  denied  and  cannot 
be  denied.  In  stating  this,  I  thought  it  just  to  ascribe  it  to 
the  constitutional  scruples  of  the  South  rather  than  to  any 


THE   REPLY  TO  HAYNE 


201 


other  less  favorable  or  less  charitable  cause.  But  no  sooner 
had  I  done  this,  than  the  honorable  gentleman  asks  if  I  re- 
proach him  and  his  friends  with  their  constitutional  scru- 
ples. Sir,  I  reproach  nobody.  I  stated  a  fact  and  gave  the 
most  respectful  reason  for  it  that  occurred  to  me.  The  gen- 
tleman cannot  deny  the  fact;  he  may,  if  he  choose,  disclaim 
the  reason.  It  is  not  long  since  I  had  occasion,  in  present- 
ing a  petition  from  his  own  State,  to  account  for  its  being 
intrusted  to  my  hands,  by  saying  that  the  constitutional 
opinions  of  the  gentleman  and  his  worthy  colleague  pre- 
vented them  from  supporting  it.  Sir,  did  I  state  this  as  a 
matter  of  reproach?  Far  from  it.  Did  I  attempt  to  find 
any  other  cause  than  an  honest  one  for  these  scruples? 
Sir,  I  did  not.  It  did  not  become  me  to  doubt  or  to  insin- 
uate that  the  gentleman  had  either  changed  his  sentiments 
or  that  he  had  made  up  a  set  of  constitutional  opinions, 
accommodated  to  any  particular  combination  of  political 
occurrences.  Had  I  done  so,  I  should  have  felt  that  while 
I  was  entitled  to  little  credit  in  thus  questioning  other 
people's  motives,  I  justified  the  whole  world  in  suspecting 
my  own.  But  how  has  the  gentleman  returned  this  respect 
for  others'  opinions?  His  own  candor  and  justice,  how 
have  they  been  exhibited  toward  the  motives  of  others, 
while  he  has  been  at  so  much  pains  to  maintain,  what  no- 
body has  disputed,  the  purity  of  his  own?  Why,  sir,  he 
has  asked  when,  and  how,  and  why.  New  England  votes 
were  found  going  for  measures  favorable  to  the  West  ?  He 
has  demanded  to  be  informed  whether  all  this  did  begin  in 
1825,  and  while  the  election  of  President  was  still  pending? 
Sir,  to  these  questions  retort  would  be  justified;  and  it  is 
both  cogent,  and  at  hand.  Nevertheless,  I  will  answer  the 
inquiry,  not  by  retort,  but  by  facts.    I  will  tell  the  gentle- 


202 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


man  when,  and  how,  and  why,  New  England  has  supported 
measures  favorable  to  the  West.  I  have  already  referred  to 
the  early  history  of  the  government — to  the  first  acquisition 
of  the  lands — to  the  original  laws  for  disposing  of  them,  and 
for  governing  the  Territories  where  they  lie;  and  have 
shown  the  iDfluence  of  Kew  England  men  and  New  Eng- 
land principles  in  all  these  leading  measures.  I  should  not 
be  pardoned  were  1  to  go  over  that  ground  again.  Coming 
to  more  recent  times,  and  to  measures  of  a  less  general 
character,  I  have  endeavored  to  prove  that  everything  of 
this  kind,  designed  for  Western  improvement,  has  depended 
on  the  votes  of  New  England;  all  this  is  true  beyond  the 
power  of  contradiction. 

And  now,  sir,  there  are  two  measures  to  which  I  will 
refer,  not  so  ancient  as  to  belong  to  the  early  history  of  the 
public  lands,  and  not  so  recent  as  to  be  on  the  side  of 
the  period  when  the  gentleman  charitably  imagines  a  new 
direction  may  have  been  given  to  New  England  feeling  and 
New  England  votes.  These  measures,  and  the  New  Eng- 
land votes  in  support  of  them,  may  be  taken  as  samples  and 
specimens  of  all  the  rest. 

In  1820  (observe,  Mr.  President,  in  1820),  the  people  of 
the  West  besought  Congress  for  a  reduction  in  the  price 
of  lands.  In  favor  of  that  reduction.  New  England,  with 
a  delegation  of  forty  members  in  the  other  House,  gave 
thirty-three  votes,  and  one  only  against  it.  The  four 
Southern  States,  with  fifty  members,  gave  thirty-two  votes 
for  it  and  seven  against  it.  Again,  in  1821  (observe  again, 
sir,  the  time),  the  law  passed  for  the  relief  of  the  purchasers 
of  the  public  lands.  This  was  a  measure  of  vital  impor- 
tance to  the  West,  and  more  especially  to  the  Southwest. 
It  authorized  the  relinquishment  of  contracts  for  lands, 


THE   REPLY  TO  HAYNK 


203 


which  had  been  entered  into  at  high  prices,  and  a  reduction 
in  other  cases  of  not  less  than  thirtj-seven  and  one-half  per 
cent  on  the  purchase  money.  Many  millions  of  dollars — 
six  or  seven,  I  believe,  at  least,  probably  much  more — were 
relinquished  by  this  law.  On  this  bill,  New  England,  with 
her  forty  members,  gave  more  affirmative  votes  than  the 
four  Southern  States,  with  their  fifty-two  or  three  members. 

These  two  are  far  the  most  important  general  measures 
respecting  the  public  lands,  which  have  been  adopted  within 
the  last  twenty  years.  They  took  place  in  1820  and  1821. 
That  is  the  time  "when."  As  to  the  manner  "how,  '  the 
gentleman  already  sees  that  it  was  by  voting,  in  solid 
column,  for  the  required  relief;  and  lastly,  as  to  the  cause 
"why,"  I  tell  the  gentleman,  it  was  because  the  members 
from  New  England  thought  the  measures  just  and  salutary; 
because  they  entertained  toward  the  West  neither  envy, 
hatred,  nor  malice;  because  they  deemed  it  becoming  them, 
as  just  and  enlightened  public  men,  to  meet  the  exigency 
which  had  arisen  in  the  West,  with  the  appropriate  measure 
of  relief;  because  they  felt  it  due  to  their  own  characters, 
and  the  characters  of  their  New  England  predecessors  in 
this  government,  to  act  toward  the  new  States  in  the  spirit 
of  a  liberal,  patronizing,  magnanimous  policy.  So  much, 
sir,  for  the  cause  "why";  and  I  hope  that  by  this  time,  sir, 
the  honorable  gentleman  is  satisfied;  if  not,  I  do  not  know 
"when,"  or  "how,"  or  "why,"  he  ever  will  be. 

Having  recurred  to  these  two  important  measures,  in 
answer  to  the  gentleman's  inquiries,  I  must  now  beg  per- 
mission to  go  back  to  a  period  yet  something  earlier,  for  the 
purpose  of  still  further  showing  how  much,  or  rather  how 
little,  reason  there  is  for  the  gentleman's  insinuation  that 
political  hopes  or  fears,  or  party  associations,  were  the 


204 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


grounds  of  these  New  England  votes.  And  after  what  has 
been  said,  I  hope  it  maj  be  forgiven  me,  if  I  allude  to  some 
political  opinions  and  votes  of  mj  own,  of  very  little  public 
importance,  certainly,  but  which,  from  the  time  at  which 
they  were  given  and  expressed,  may  pass  for  good  witnesses 
on  this  occasion. 

This  government,  Mr,  President,  from  its  origin  to  the 
peace  of  1815,  had  been  too  much  engrossed  with  various 
other  important  concerns  to  be  able  to  turn  its  thoughts 
inward,  and  look  to  the  development  of  its  vast  internal 
resources.  In  the  early  part  of  President  Washington's 
administration,  it  was  fully  occupied  with  completing  its 
own  organization,  providing  for  the  public  debt,  defending 
the  frontiers,  and  maintaining  domestic  peace.  Before  the 
termination  of  that  administration,  the  fires  of  the  French 
Kevolution  blazed  forth,  as  from  a  new-opened  volcano,  and 
the  whole  breadth  of  the  ocean  did  not  secure  us  from  its  ef- 
fects. The  smoke  and  the  cinders  reached  us,  though  not  the 
burning  lava.  Difficult  and  agitating  questions,  embarrass- 
ing to  government,  and  dividing  public  opinion,  sprung  out 
of  the  new  state  of  our  foreign  relations,  and  were  succeeded 
by  others,  and  yet  again  by  others,  equally  embarrassing, 
and  equally  exciting  division  and  discord,  through  the  long 
series  of  twenty  years,  till  they  finally  issued  in  the  war 
with  England.  Down  to  the  close  of  that  war,  no  distinct, 
marked,  and  deliberate  attention  had  been  given,  or  could 
have  been  given,  to  the  internal  condition  of  the  country, 
its  capacities  of  improvement,  or  the  constitutional  power 
of  the  government,  in  regard  to  objects  connected  with  such 
improvement. 

The  peace,  Mr.  President,  brought  about  an  entirely  new 
and  a  most  interesting  state  of  things;  it  opened  to  us  other 


THE   REPLY  TO  HAYNE 


205 


prospects,  and  suggested  other  duties.  We  ourselves  were 
changed,  and  the  whole  world  was  changed.  The  pacifi- 
cation of  Europe,  after  J ane,  1815,  assumed  a  firm  and 
permanent  aspect.  The  nations  evidently  manifested  that 
they  were  disposed  for  peace.  Some  agitation  of  the  waves 
might  be  expected,  even  after  the  storm  had  subsided, 
but  the  tendency  was,  strongly  and  rapidly,  toward  settled 
repose. 

It  so  happened,  sir,  that  1  was,  at  that  time,  a  member 
of  Congress,  and,  like  others,  naturally  turned  my  attention 
to  the  contemplation  of  the  newly  altered  condition  of  the 
country  and  of  the  world.  It  appeared  plainly  enough  to 
me,  as  well  as  to  wiser  and  more  experienced  men,  that  the 
policy  of  the  government  would  naturally  take  a  start  in  a 
new  direction,  because  new  directions  would  necessarily  be 
given  to  the  pursuits  and  occupations  of  the  people.  We 
bad  pushed  our  commerce  far  and  fast,  under  the  advantage 
of  a  neutral  flag.  But  there  were  now  no  longer  flags,  either 
neutral  or  belligerent.  The  harvest  of  neutrality  had  been 
great,  but. we  had  gathered  it  all.  With  the  peace  of  Eu- 
rope, it  was  obvious  there  would  spring  up  in  her  circle  of 
nations,  a  revived  and  invigorated  spirit  of  trade,  and  a  new 
activity  in  all  the  business  and  objects  of  civilized  life. 
Hereafter,  our  commercial  gains  were  to  be  earned  only 
by  success,  in  a  close  and  intense  competition.  Other  na- 
tions would  produce  for  themselves,  and  carry  for  them- 
selves, and  manufacture  for  themselves,  to  the  full  extent 
of  their  abilities.  The  crops  of  our  plains  would  no  longer 
sustain  European  armies,  nor  our  ships  longer  supply  those 
whom  war  had  rendered  unable  to  supply  themselves.  It 
was  obvious  that,  under  these  circumstances,  the  country 
would  begin  to  survey  itself  and  to  estimate  its  own  ca- 


206 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


pacity  of  improvement.  And  this  improvement — bow  was 
It  to  be  accomplished,  and  who  was  to  accomplish  it?  We 
were  ten  or  twelve  millions  of  people,  spread  over  almost 
half  a  world.  We  were  more  than  twenty  States,  some 
stretching  along  the  same  seaboard,  some  along  the  same 
line  of  inland  frontier,  and  others  on  opposite  banks  of  the 
same  vast  rivers.  Two  considerations  at  once  presented 
themselves,  in  looking  at  this  state  of  things,  with  great 
force.  One  was  that  that  great  branch  of  improvement, 
which  consisted  in  furnishing  new  facilities  of  intercourse, 
necessarily  ran  into  different  States,  in  every  leading  in- 
stance, and  would  benefit  the  citizens  of  all  such  States. 
No  one  State,  therefore,  in  such  cases,  would  assume  the 
whole  expense,  nor  was  the  co-operation  of  several  States 
to  be  expected.  Take  the  instance  of  the  Delaware  Break- 
water. It  will  cost  several  millions  of  money.  Would 
Pennsylvania  alone  ever  have  constructed  it  ?  Certainly 
never,  while  this  Union  lasts,  because  it  is  not  for  her 
sole  benefit.  Would  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  and  Dela- 
ware have  united  to  accomplish  it,  at  their  joint  expense  ? 
Certainly  not,  for  the  same  reason.  It  could  not  be  done, 
therefore,  but  by  the  general  government.  The  same  may 
be  said  of  the  large  inland  undertakings,  except  that,  in 
them,  government,  instead  of  bearing  the  whole  expense, 
co-operates  with  others  who  bear  a  part.  The  other  con- 
sideration is,  that  the  United  States  have  the  means.  They 
enjoy  the  revenues  derived  from  commerce,  and  the  States 
have  no  abundant  and  easy  sources  of  public  income.  The 
costom  houses  fill  the  general  treasury,  while  the  States  have 
scanty  resources,  except  by  resort  to  heavy  direct  taxes. 

Under  this  view  of  things  I  thought  it  necessary  to  settle, 
at  least  for  myself,  some  definite  notions  with  respect  to  the 


THE   REPLY  TO  HAYNE 


207 


powers  of  the  government  in  regard  to  internal  affairs.  It 
may  not  savor  too  much  of  self-commendation  to  remark 
that  with  this  object  I  considered  the  Constitution,  its  ju- 
dicial construction,  its  contemporaneous  exposition,  and  the 
whole  history  of  the  legislation  of  Congress  under  it;  and  I 
arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  government  had  power  to 
accomplish  sundry  objects,  or  aid  in  their  accomplishment, 
which  are  now  commonly  spoken  of  as  internal  improve- 
ments. That  conclusion,  sir,  may  have  been  right,  or  it 
may  have  been  wrong.  I  am  not  about  to  argue  the 
grounds  of  it  at  large.  I  say  only  that  it  was  adopted 
and  acted  on  even  so  early  as  in  1816.  Yes,  Mr.  Presi- 
dent, I  made  up  my  opinion,  and  determined  on  my  in- 
tended course  of  political  conduct  on  these  subjects  in  the 
Fourteenth  Congress,  in  1816.  And  now,  Mr.  President,  I 
have  further  to  say  that  I  made  up  these  opinions,  and  en- 
tered on  this  course  of  political  conduct  Teucro  duce.  Yes, 
sir,  I  pursued  in  all  this  a  South  Carolina  track,  on  the 
doctrines  of  internal  improvement.  South  Carolina,  as  she 
was  then  represented  in  the  other  House,  set  forth,  in  1816, 
under  a  fresh  and  leading  breeze,  and  I  was  among  the  fol- 
lowers. But  if  my  leader  sees  new  lights,  and  turns  a  sharp 
corner,  unless  I  see  new  lights  also,  I  keep  straight  on  in 
the  same  path.  I  repeat  that  leading  gentlemen  from  South 
Carolina  were  first  and  foremost  in  behalf  of  the  doctrines 
of  internal  improvements,  when  those  doctrines  came  first 
to  be  considered  and  acted  upon  in  Congress.  The  debate 
on  the  bank  question,  on  the  tariff  of  1816,  and  on  the 
direct  tax,  will  show  who  was  who,  and  what  was  what  at 
that  time.  The  tariff  of  1816,  one  of  the  plain  cases  of 
oppression  and  usurpation,  from  which,  if  the  government 
does  not  recede,  individual  States  may  justly  secede  from 


208 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


the  government,  is,  sir,  in  truth,  a  South  Carolina  tariff, 
cupported  by  South  Carolina  votes.  But  for  those  votes 
it  could  not  have  passed  in  the  form  in  which  it  did  pass; 
whereas,  if  it  had  depended  on  Massachusetts  votes,  it 
would  have  been  lost.  Does  not  the  honorable  gentleman 
well  know  all  this  ?  There  are  certainly  those  who  do,  full 
well,  know  it  all.  I  do  not  say  this  to  reproach  South  Caro- 
lina. 1  only  state  the  fact;  and  I  think  it  will  appear  to  be 
true,  that  among  the  earliest  and  boldest  advocates  of  the 
tariff,  as  a  measure  of  protection,  and  on  the  express  ground 
of  protection,  were  leading  gentlemen  of  South  Carolina  in 
Congress.  I  did  not  then,  and  cannot  now,  understand  their 
language  in  any  other  sense.  While  this  tariff  of  1816  was 
under  discussion  in  the  House  of  Kepresentatives,  an  honor- 
able gentleman  from  Georgia,  now  of  this  House,  Mr.  For- 
syth, moved  to  reduce  the  proposed  duty  on  cotton.  He 
failed  by  four  votes.  South  Carolina  giving  three  votes 
(enough  to  have  turned  the  scale)  against  his  motion.  The 
act,  sir,  then  passed,  and  received  on  its  passage  the  sup- 
port of  a  majority  of  the  Eepresentatives  of  South  Carolina 
present  and  voting.  This  act  is  the  first,  in  the  order  of 
those  now  denounced  as  plain  usurpations.  We  see  it  daily, 
in  the  list  by  the  side  of  those  of  1824  and  1828,  as  a  case 
of  manifest  oppression,  justifying  disunion.  I  put  it  home 
to  the  honorable  member  from  South  Carolina  that  his  own 
State  was  not  only  "art  and  part"  in  this  measure,  but  the 
causa  causans.  Without  her  aid  this  seminal  principle  of 
mischief,  this  root  of  the  Upas,  could  not  have  been  planted. 
I  have  already  said,  and  it  is  true,  that  this  act  proceeded  on 
the  ground  of  protection.  It  interfered  directly  with  exist- 
ing interests  of  great  value  and  amount.  It  cut  up  the  Cal- 
cutta cotton  trade  by  the  roots,  but  it  passed,  nevertheless, 


THE   REPLY  TO  HAYNE 


209 


and  it  passed  on  the  principle  of  protecting  manufacturea, 
on  the  principle  against  free  trade,  on  the  principle  opposed 
to  that  which  lets  us  alone. 

Such,  Mr.  President,  were  the  opinions  of  important  and 
leading  gentlemen  from  South  Carolina,  on  the  subject  of 
internal  improvements  in  1816.    I  went  out  of  Congress  the 
next  year;  and  returning  again  in  1823,  thought  I  found 
South  Carolina  where  I  had  left  her.    I  really  supposed 
that  all  things  remained  as  they  were,  and  that  the  South 
Carolina  doctrine  of  internal  improvements  would  be  de- 
fended by  the  same  eloquent  voices  and  the  same  strong 
arms  as  formerly.    In  the  lapse  of  these  six  years,  it  is  true, 
political  associations  had  assumed  a  new  aspect  and  new  di- 
visions.  A  party  had  arisen  in  the  South  hostile  to  the  doc- 
trine of  internal  improvements,  and  had  vigorously  attacked 
that  doctrine.    Anti-consolidation  was  the  flag  under  which 
this  party  fought;  and  its  supporters  inveighed  against  in- 
ternal improvements  much  after  the  manner  in  which  the 
honorable  gentleman  has  now  inveighed  against  them,  as 
part  and  parcel  of  the  system  of  consolidation.  Whether 
this  party  arose  in  South  Carolina  herself,  or  in  her  neigh- 
borhood, is  more  than  I  know.    1  think  the  latter.  How- 
ever that  may  have  been,  there  were  those  found  in  South 
Carolina  ready  to  make  war  upon  it,  and  who  did  make 
intrepid  war  upon  it.    Names  being  regarded  as  things,  in 
such  controversies,  they  bestowed  on  the  anti-improvement 
gentlemen  the  appellation  of  Eadicals.    Yes,  sir,  the  appel- 
lation of  Eadicals,  as  a  term  of  distinction,  applicable  and 
applied  to  those  who  denied  the  liberal  doctrines  of  internal 
improvements,  originated,  according  to  the  best  of  my  recol- 
lection, somewhere  between  North  Carolina  and  Georgia. 
Well,  sir,  these  mischievous  Radicals  were  to  be  put  down. 

Vol.  5— U 


210 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


and  the  strong  arm  of  South  Carolina  was  stretched  out  to 
put  them  down.  About  this  time,  sir,  i  returned  to  Con- 
gress. The  battle  with  the  Radicals  had  been  fought,  and 
our  South  Carolina  champions  of  the  doctrines  of  internal 
improvement  had  nobly  maintained  their  ground  and  were 
understood  to  have  achieved  a  victory.  We  looked  upon 
them  as  conquerors.  They  had  driven  back  the  enemy  with 
discomfiture — a  thing,  by  the  way,  sir,  which  is  not  always 
performed  when  it  is  promised.  A  gentleman,  to  whom  1 
have  already  referred  in  this  debate,  had  come  into  Con- 
gress during  my  absence  from  it,  from  South  Carolina,  and 
had  brought  with  him  a  high  reputation  for  ability.  He 
came  from  a  school  with  which  we  had  been  acquainted 
et  noscitur  a  sociis.  I  hold  in  my  hand,  sir,  a  printed  speech 
of  this  distinguished  gentleman  [Mro  McDuffie],  "on  internal 
improvements,"  delivered  about  the  period  to  which  I  now 
refer,  and  printed  with  a  few  introductory  remarks  upon 
consolidation;  in  which,  sir,  I  think  he  quite  consolidated 
the  arguments  of  his  opponents,  the  Eadicals,  if  to  crush  be 
to  consolidate.  I  give  you  a  short,  but  substantive  quota- 
tion from  these  remarks.  He  is  speaking  of  a  pamphlet, 
then  recently  published,  entitled  "Consolidation";  and  hav- 
ing alluded  to  the  question  of  renewing  the  charter  of  the 
former  Bank  of  the  United  States,  he  says: 

"Moreover,  in  the  early  history  of  parties,  and  when 
Mr.  Crawford  advocated  a  renewal  of  the  old  charter,  it  was 
considered  a  Federal  measure;  which  internal  improvements 
never  was,  as  this  author  erroneously  states.  This  latter 
measure  originated  in  the  administration  of  Mr.  JefEerson, 
with  the  appropriation  for  the  Cumberland  road;  and  was 
first  proposed,  as  a  system,  by  Mn  Calhoun,  and  carried 
through  the  House  of  Kepresentatives  by  a  large  majority 


THE  REPLY  TO  HAYNE 


211 


of  the  Republicans,  including  almost  every  one  of  the 
leading  men  who  carried  us  through  the  late  war." 

So,  then,  internal  improvement  is  not  one  of  the  Federal 
heresies.    One  paragraph  more,  sir: 

''The  author  in  question,  not  content  with  denouncing, 
as  Federalists,  General  Jackson,  Mr.  Adams,  Mr.  Calhoun, 
and  the  majority  of  the  South  Carolina  delegation  in  Con- 
gress, modestly  extends  the  denunciation  to  Mr.  Monroe 
and  the  whole  Republican  party.  Here  are  his  words: 
*  During  the  administration  of  Mr.  Monroe  much  has  passed 
which  the  Republican  party  would  be  glad  to  approve  if 
they  could.  But  the  principal  feature,  and  that  which  has 
chiefly  elicited  these  observations,  is  the  renewal  of  the 
system  of  internal  improvements.'  Now  this  measure  was 
adopted  by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  fifteen  to  eighty-six, 
of  a  Republican  Congress,  and  sanctioned  by  a  Republican 
President.  Who,  then,  is  this  author — who  assumes  the 
high  prerogative  of  denouncing,  in  the  name  of  the  Republi- 
can party,  the  Republican  administration  of  the  country?  A 
denunciation  including  within  its  sweep  Calhoun,  Lowndes, 
and  Cheves — men  who  will  be  regarded  as  the  brightest 
ornaments  of  South  Carolina,  and  the  strongest  pillars  of 
the  Republican  party,  as  long  as  the  late  war  shall  be  re- 
membered, and  talents  and  patriotism  shall  be  regarded  as 
the  proper  objects  of  the  admiration  and  gratitude  of  a  free 
people." 

Such  are  the  opinions,  sir,  which  were  maintained  by 
South  Carolina  gentlemen,  in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
on  the  subject  of  internal  improvements,  when  I  took  my 
seat  there  as  a  member  from  Massachusetts  in  1823.  But 
this  is  not  all.  We  had  a  bill  before  us,  and  passed  it  in 
that  House,  entitled;  *'An  act  to  procure  the  necessary  sur- 


212 


DANIEL  AVEBSTER 


veys,  plans,  and  estimates  upon  the  subject  of  roads  and 
canals."  It  authorized  the  President  to  cause  surveys  and 
estimates  to  be  made  of  the  routes  of  such  roads  and  canals 
as  he  might  deem  of  national  importance,  in  a  commercial 
or  military  point  of  view,  or  for  the  transportation  of  the 
mail,  and  appropriated  thirty  thousand  dollars  out  of  the 
Treasury  to  defray  the  expense.  This  act,  though  pre- 
liminary in  its  nature,  covered  the  whole  ground.  It  took 
for  granted  the  complete  power  of  internal  improvement  as 
far  as  any  of  its  advocates  had  ever  contended  for  it. 
Having  passed  the  other  House,  the  bill  came  up  to  the 
Senate,  and  was  here  considered  and  debated  in  April, 
1824.  The  honorable  member  from  South  Carolina  was  a 
member  of  the  Senate  at  that  time.  While  the  bill  was 
under  consideration  here,  a  motion  was  made  to  add  the 
following  proviso: 

''Provided,  That  nothing  herein  contained  shall  be  con- 
strued to  affirm  or  admit  a  power  in  Congress,  on  their  own 
authority,  to  make  roads  or  canals  within  any  of  the  States 
of  the  Union." 

The  yeas  and  nays  were  taken  on  this  proviso  and  the 
honorable  member  voted  in  the  negative !   The  proviso  failed. 

A  motion  was  then  made  to  add  this  proviso,  namely: 

''Provided,  That  the  faith  of  the  United  States  is  hereby 
pledged,  that  no  money  shall  ever  be  expended  for  roads  or 
canals,  except  it  shall  be  among  the  several  States  and  in 
the  same  proportion  as  direct  taxes  are  laid  and  assessed  by 
the  provisions  of  the  Constitution." 

The  honorable  member  voted  against  this  proviso,  also, 
and  it  failed.  The  bill  was  then  put  on  its  passage  and  the 
honorable  member  voted  for  it,  and  it  passed  and  became 
a  law. 


THE   KEPLV   TO   II AVNE 


213 


Now  it  strikes  me,  sir,  that  there  is  no  maintaining 
these  votes,  but  upon  the  power  of  internal  improvement, 
in  its  broadest  sense.  In  truth,  these  bills  for  surveys  and 
estimates  have  always  been  considered  as  test  questions — 
they  show  who  is  for  and  who  against  internal  improve- 
ment. This  law  itself  went  the  whole  length  and  assumed 
the  full  and  complete  power.  The  gentleman's  votes  sus- 
tained that  power  in  every  form  in  which  the  various  propo- 
sitions to  amend  presented  it.  He  went  for  the  entire  and 
unrestrained  authority  without  consulting  the  States,  and 
without  agreeing  to  any  proportionate  distribution.  And 
now  suffer  me  to  remind  you,  Mr.  President,  that  it  is  this 
very  same  power,  thus  sanctioned  in  every  form  by  the 
gentleman's  own  opinion,  that  is  so  plain  and  manifest  a 
usurpation  that  the  State  of  South  Carolina  is  supposed  to 
be  justified  in  refusing  submission  to  any  laws  carrying  the 
power  into  effect.  Truly,  sir,  is  not  this  a  little  too  hard? 
May  we  not  crave  some  mercy  under  favor  and  protection  of 
the  gentleman's  own  authority?  Admitting  that  a  road, 
or  a  canal,  must  be  written  down  flat  usurpation  as  was  ever 
committed,  may  we  find  no  mitigation  in  our  respect  for  his 
place  and  his  vote  as  one  that  knows  the  law? 

The  tariff,  which  South  Carolina  had  an  efficient  hand 
in  establishing,  in  1816,  and  this  asserted  power  of  internal 
improvement,  advanced  by  her  in  the  same  year,  and,  as 
we  have  seen,  approved  and  sanctioned  by  her  Representa- 
tives in  1824,  these  two  measures  are  the  great  grounds  on 
which  she  is  now  thought  to  be  justified  in  breaking  up  the 
Union,  if  she  sees  fit  to  break  it  up ! 

I  may  now  safely  say,  I  think,  that  we  have  had  the 
authority  of  leading  and  distinguished  gentlemen  from 
South  Carolina,  in  support  of  the  doctrine  of  internal  Ili- 


214 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


provement.  1  repeat  that,  up  to  1824,  i  for  one  followed 
South  Carolina;  but,  when  that  star,  in  its  ascension, 
veered  off,  iu  an  unexpected  direction,  1  relied  on  its  light 
no  longer. 

Mere  the  Vice-President,  Mr.  Calhoun,  said:  "Does  the 
chair  understand  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  to  say 
that  the  person  now  occupying  the  chair  of  the  Senate  has 
changed  his  opinions  on  the  subject  of  internal  improve- 
ments?" 

From  nothing  ever  said  to  me,  sir,  have  I  had  reason  to 
know  of  any  change  in  the  opinions  of  the  person  filling  the 
chair  of  the  Senate.  If  such  change  has  taken  place,  I  re- 
gret it.  1  speak  generally  of  the  State  of  South  Carolina. 
Individuals,  we  know  there  are,  who  hold  opinions  favor- 
able to  the  power.  An  application  for  its  exercise,  in 
behalf  of  a  public  work  in  South  Carolina  itself,  is  now 
pending,  I  believe,  in  the  other  House,  presented  by  mem- 
bers from  that  State. 

I  have  thus,  sir,  perhaps  not  without  some  tediousness 
of  detail,  shown  that  if  I  am  in  error  on  the  subject  of  in- 
ternal improvement,  how,  and  in  what  company,  1  fell  into 
that  error.    If  I  am  wrong,  it  is  apparent  who  misled  me. 

I  go  to  other  remarks  of  the  honorable  member;  and  I 
have  to  complain  of  an  entire  misapprehension  of  what 
I  said  on  the  subject  of  the  national  debt,  though  I  can 
hardly  perceive  how  any  one  could  misunderstand  me. 
What  I  said  was,  not  that  I  wished  to  put  off  the  payment 
of  the  debt,  but,  on  the  contrary,  that  I  had  always  voted 
for  every  measure  for  its  reduction,  as  uniformly  as  the 
gentleman  himself.  He  seems  to  claim  the  exclusive  merit 
of  a  disposition  to  reduce  the  public  charge.  I  do  not  alioW 
it  to  him.    As  a  debt,  I  was,  I  am  for  paying  it,  because  it  is 


THE   KEl'LY   TO  UAYNE 


215 


a  charge  on  our  finances  and  on  the  industry  of  the  country. 
But  1  observed  that  I  thought  I  perceived  a  morbid  fervor 
on  that  subject — an  excessive  anxiety  to  pay  off  the  debt, 
not  so  much  because  it  is  a  debt  simply,  as  because,  while 
it  lasts,  it  furnishes  one  objection  to  disunion..  It  is  a  tie 
of  common  interest,  while  it  continues.  I  did  not  impute 
such  motives  to  the  honorable  member  himself;  but  that 
there  is  such  a  feeling  in  existence  I  have  not  a  particle  of 
doubt.  The  most  I  said  was  that  if  one  effect  of  the  debt 
was  to  strengthen  our  Union,  that  effect  itself  was  not  re- 
gretted by  me,  however  much  others  might  regret  it.  The 
gentleman  has  not  seen  how  to  reply  to  this  otherwise  than 
by  supposing  me  to  have  advanced  the  doctrine  that  a 
national  debt  is  a  national  blessing.  Others,  I  must  hope, 
will  find  much  less  difficulty  in  understanding  me.  I  dis- 
tinctly and  pointedly  cautioned  the  honorable  member  not 
to  understand  me  as  expressing  an  opinion  favorable  to  the 
continuance  of  the  debt.  I  repeated  this  caution,  and  re- 
peated it  more  than  once;  but  it  was  thrown  away. 

On  yet  another  point  I  was  still  more  unaccountably 
misunderstood.  The  gentleman  had  harangued  against 
*' consolidation."  I  told  him,  in  reply,  that  there  was  one 
kind  of  consolidation  to  which  I  was  attached,  and  that  was 
the  consolidation  of  our  Union;  and  that  this  was  precisely 
that  consolidation  to  which  I  feared  others  were  not  at- 
tached. That  such  consolidation  was  the  very  end  of  the 
Constitution — the  leading  object,  as  they  had  informed  us 
themselves,  which  its  framers  had  kept  in  view.  I  turned 
to  their  communication,  and  read  their  very  words — "the 
consolidation  of  the  Union" — and  expressed  my  devotion 
to  this  sort  of  consolidation.  I  said  in  terms,  that  I  wished 
not,  in  the  slightest  degree,  to  augment  the  powers  of  this 


216 


DAmEL  WEBSTER 


government;  that  my  object  was  to  preserve,  not  to  enlarge; 
and  that  by  consolidating  the  Union,  I  understood  no  more 
than  the  strengthening  of  the  Union,  and  perpetuating  it. 
Having  been  thus  explicit;  having  thus  read  from  the 
printed  book  the  precise  words  which  I  adopted,  as  ex- 
pressing my  own  sentiments,  it  passes  comprehension  how 
any  man  could  understand  me  as  contending  for  an  exten- 
sion of  the  powers  of  the  government,  or  for  consolidation, 
in  that  odious  sense  in  which  it  means  an  accumulation,  in 
the  Federal  Government,  of  the  powers  properly  belonging 
to  the  States. 

I  repeat,  sir,  that  in  adopting  the  sentiment  of  the 
framers  of  the  Constitution,  I  read  their  language  audibly, 
and  word  for  word;  and  I  pointed  out  the  distinction  just 
as  fully  as  I  have  now  done,  between  the  consolidation  of 
the  Union  and  that  other  obnoxious  consolidation  which 
I  disclaimed.  And  yet  the  honorable  member  misunder- 
stood me.  The  gentleman  had  said  that  he  wished  for  no 
fixed  revenue — not  a  shilling.  If,  by  a  word,  he  could  con- 
vert the  Capitol  into  gold,  he  would  not  do  it.  Why  all  this 
fear  of  revenue?  Why,  sir,  because,  as  the  gentleman  told 
us,  it  tends  to  consolidation.  Now,  this  can  mean  neither 
more  nor  less  than  that  a  common  revenue  is  a  common 
interest,  and  that  all  common  interests  tend  to  hold  the 
Union  of  the  States  together.  I  confess  I  like  that  tend- 
ency; if  the  gentleman  dislikes  it,  he  is  right  in  depre- 
cating a  shilling's  fixed  revenue.  So  much,  sir,  for  con- 
solidation. 

As  well  as  I  recollect  the  course  of  his  remarks,  the 
honorable  gentleman  next  recurred  to  the  subject  of  the 
tariff.  He  did  not  doubt  the  word  must  be  of  unpleasant 
sound  to  me,  and  proceeded  with  an  effort,  neither  new, 


THE  REPLY  TO  HAYNE 


217 


nor  attended  with  new  success,  to  involve  me  and  mj  votes 
in  inconsistency  and  contradiction.  I  am  happy  the  hon- 
orable gentleman  has  furnished  me  an  opportunity  for  a 
timely  remark  or  two  on  that  subject.  1  was  glad  he  ap- 
proached it,  for  it  is  a  question  1  enter  upon  without  fear 
from  anybody.  The  strenuous  toil  of  the  gentleman  has 
been  to  raise  an  inconsistency  between  my  dissent  to  the 
tariff  in  1824  and  my  vote  in  1828.  It  is  labor  lost.  He 
pays  undeserved  compliment  to  my  speech  in  1824;  but 
this  is  to  raise  me  high,  that  my  fall,  as  he  would  have  it, 
in  1828,  may  be  more  signal.  Sir,  there  was  no  fall  at  all. 
Between  the  ground  I  stood  on  in  1824,  and  that  I  took 
in  1828,  there  was  not  only  no  precipice,  but  no  declivity. 
It  was  a  change  of  position,  to  meet  new  circumstances, 
but  on  the  same  level.  A  plain  tale  explains  the  whole 
matter.  In  1816,  I  had  not  acquiesced  in  the  tariff,  then 
supported  by  South  Carolina.  To  some  parts  of  it,  espe- 
cially, I  felt  and  expressed  great  repugnance.  I  held  the 
same  opinions  in  1821,  at  the  meeting  in  Faneuil  Hall,  to 
which  the  gentleman  has  alluded.  I  said  then,  and  say 
now,  that,  as  an  original  question,  the  authority  of  Con- 
gress to  exercise  the  revenue  power,  with  direct  reference 
to  tbe  protection  of  manufactures,  is  a  questionable  au- 
thority, far  more  questionable,  in  my  judgment,  than  the 
power  of  internal  improvements.  I  must  confess,  sir,  that, 
in  one  respect,  some  impression  has  been  made  on  my  opin- 
ions lately.  Mr.  Madison's  publication  has  put  the  power 
in  a  very  strong  light.  He  has  placed  it,  I  must  acknowl 
edge,  upon  grounds  of  construction  and  argument,  which 
seem  impregnable.  But  even  if  the  power  were  doubtful, 
on  the  face  of  the  Constitution  itself,  it  had  been  assumed 
and  asserted  in  the  first  revenue  law  ever  passed  under  that 


218 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


same  Constitution;  and,  on  this  ground,  as  a  matter  settled 
by  contemporaneous  practice,  1  had  refrained  from  express- 
ing the  opinion  that  the  tariff  laws  transcended  constitu- 
tional limits,  as  the  gentleman  supposes.  What  I  did  say 
at  Kaneuil  Hall,  as  far  as  i  now  remember,  was  that  this 
was  originally  matter  of  doubtful  construction.  The  gen- 
tleman himself,  I  suppose,  thinks  there  is  no  doubt  about 
it  and  that  the  laws  are  plainly  against  the  Constitution. 
Mr.  Madison's  letters,  already  referred  to,  contain,  in  my 
judgment,  by  far  the  most  able  exposition  extant  of  this 
part  of  the  Constitution.  He  has  satisfied  me,  so  far  as  the 
practice  of  the  government  had  left  it  an  open  question. 

With  a  great  majority  of  the  Eepresentatives  of  Massa- 
chusetts, 1  voted  against  the  tariff  of  1824.  My  reasons 
were  then  given,  and  i  will  not  now  repeat  them.  But, 
notwithstanding  our  dissent,  the  great  States  of  New  York, 
Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  and  Kentucky,  went  for  the  bill,  in 
almost  unbroken  column,  and  it  passed.  Congress  and  the 
President  sanctioned  it,  and  it  became  the  law  of  the  land. 
What,  then,  were  we  to  do?  Our  only  option  was,  either 
to  fall  in  with  this  settled  course  of  public  policy,  and 
accommodate  ourselves  to  it  as  well  as  we  could,  or  to  em- 
brace the  South  Carolina  doctrine,  and  talk  of  nullifying 
the  statute  by  State  interference. 

This  last  alternative  did  not  suit  oar  principles,  and,  of 
course,  we  adopted  the  former.  In  1827  the  subject  came 
again  before  Congress,  on  a  proposition  favorable  to  wool 
and  woollens.  We  looked  upon  the  system  of  protection 
as  being  fixed  and  settled.  The  law  of  1824  remained.  It 
had  gone  into  full  operation,  and  in  regard  to  some  objects 
intended  by  it,  perhaps  most  of  them,  had  produced  all  its 
expected  effects.    No  man  proposed  to  repeal  it;  no  man  at- 


THE  REPLY  TO  HAYNK 


219 


tempted  to  renew  the  general  contest  on  its  principle.  But, 
owing  to  subsequent  and  unforeseen  occurrences,  the  bene- 
fit intended  by  it  to  wool  and  woollen  fabrics  had  not  been 
realized.  Events,  not  known  here  when  the  law  passed, 
had  taken  place,  which  defeated  its  object  in  that  particu- 
lar respect.  A  measure  was  accordingly  brought  forward 
to  meet  this  precise  deficiency;  to  remedy  this  particular 
defect.  It  was  limited  to  wool  and  woollens.  Was  ever 
anything  more  reasonable  ?  If  the  policy  of  the  tariff  laws 
had  become  established  in  principle,  as  the  permanent 
policy  of  the  government,  should  they  not  be  revised  and 
amended,  and  made  equal,  like  other  laws,  as  exigencies 
should  arise,  or  justice  require?  Because  we  had  doubted 
about  adopting  the  system,  were  we  to  refuse  to  cure  its 
manifest  defects,  after  it  became  adopted,  and  when  no  one 
attempted  its  repeal?  And  this,  sir,  is  the  inconsistency 
so  much  bruited.  I  had  voted  against  the  tariff  of  1824 — 
but  it  passed ;  and  in  1827  and  1828  I  voted  to  amend  it,  in 
a  point  essential  to  the  interest  of  my  constituents.  Where 
is  the  inconsistency?  Could  I  do  otherwise?  Sir,  does 
political  consistency  consist  in  always  giving  negative 
votes?  Does  it  require  of  a  public  man  to  refuse  to  con- 
cur in  amending  laws,  because  they  passed  against  his 
consent?  Having  voted  against  the  tariff  originally,  does 
consistency  demand  that  I  should  do  all  in  my  power  to 
maintain  an  unequal  tariff,  burdensome  to  my  own  constit- 
uents, and,  in  many  respects,  favorable  to  none?  To  con- 
sistency of  that  sort  I  lay  no  claim.  And  there  is  another 
sort  to  which  I  lay  as  little — and  that  is  a  kind  of  consist- 
ency by  which  persons  feel  themselves  as  much  bound  to 
oppose  a  proposition,  after  it  has  become  a  law  of  the  land., 
as  before. 


220 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


The  bill  of  1827,  limited,  as  I  have  said,  to  the  single 
object  in  which  the  tariff  of  1824  had  manifestly  failed  in 
its  effect,  passed  the  House  of  Kepresentatives,  but  was  lost 
here.  We  had  then  the  Act  of  1828.  I  need  not  recur  to 
the  history  of  a  measure  so  recent.  Its  enemies  spiced  it 
with  whatsoever  they  thought  would  render  it  distasteful; 
its  friends  took  it,  drugged  as  it  was.  Yast  amounts  of 
property,  many  millions,  had  been  invested  in  manufac- 
tures, under  the  inducements  of  the  Act  of  1824.  Events 
called  loudly,  as  I  thought,  for  further  regulation  to  secure 
the  degree  of  protection  intended  by  that  act.  I  was  dis- 
posed to  vote  for  such  regulation,  and  desired  nothing 
more;  but  certainly  was  not  to  be  bantered  out  of  my 
purpose  by  a  threatened  augmentation  of  duty  on  mo- 
lasses, put  into  the  bill  for  the  avowed  purpose  of  mak- 
ing it  obnoxious.  The  vote  may  have  been  right  or  wrong, 
wise  or  unwise;  but  it  is  little  less  than  absurd  to  allege 
against  it  an  inconsistency  with  opposition  to  the  former 
law. 

Sir,  as  to  the  general  subject  of  the  tariff,  I  have  little 
now  to  say.  Another  opportunity  may  be  presented.  I 
remarked  the  other  day  that  this  policy  did  not  begin  with 
us  in  New  England;  and  yet,  sir.  New  England  is  charged 
with  vehemence  as  being  favorable,  or  charged  with  equal 
vehemence  as  being  unfavorable  to  the  tariff*  policy,  just 
as  best  suits  the  time,  place,  and  occasion  for  making  some 
charge  against  her.  The  credulity  of  the  public  has  been  put 
to  its  extreme  capacity  of  false  impression,  relative  to  her 
conduct,  in  this  particular.  Through  all  the  South,  during 
the  late  contest,  it  was  New  England  policy  and  a  New  Eng- 
land administration  that  was  afflicting  the  country  with  a 
tariff  beyond  all  endurance;  while  on  the  other  side  of  the 


THE   REPLY  TO  HAYNE 


221 


Alleghany,  even  the  Act  of  1828  itself,  the  very  sublimated 
essence  of  oppression,  according  to  Southern  opinions,  was 
pronounced  to  be  one  of  those  blessings  for  which  the  West 
was  indebted  to  the  * 'generous  South." 

With  large  investments  in  manufacturing  establishments, 
and  many  and  various  interests  connected  with  and  depend- 
ent upon  them,  it  is  not  expected  that  New  England,  any 
more  than  other  portions  of  the  country,  will  now  consent  to 
any  measure,  destructive  or  highly  dangerous.  The  duty 
of  the  government,  at  the  present  moment,  would  seem  to 
be  to  preserve,  not  to  destroy;  to  maintain  the  position 
which  it  has  assumed;  and,  for  one,  I  shall  feel  it  an  in- 
dispensable obligation  to  hold  it  steady,  as  far  as  in  my 
power,  to  that  degree  of  protection  which  it  has  under- 
taken to  bestow.    No  more  of  the  tariff. 

Professing  to  be  provoked,  by  what  he  chose  to  con- 
sider a  charge  made  by  me  against  South  Carolina,  the 
honorable  member,  Mr.  President,  has  taken  up  a  new 
crusade  against  New  England.  Leaving  altogether  the 
subject  of  the  public  lands,  in  which  his  success,  per- 
haps, had  been  neither  distinguished  nor  satisfactory,  and 
letting  go,  also,  of  the  topic  of  the  tariff,  he  sallied  forth 
in  a  general  assault  on  the  opinions,  politics,  and  parties 
of  New  England,  as  they  have  been  exhibited  in  the  last 
thirty  years.  This  is  natural.  The  "narrow  policy"  of 
the  public  lands  had  proved  a  legal  settlement  in  South 
Carolina,  and  was  not  to  be  removed.  The  "accursed 
policy"  of  the  tariff,  also,  had  established  the  fact  of 
its  birth  and  parentage  in  the  same  State.  No  wonder, 
therefore,  the  gentleman  wished  to  carry  the  war,  as  he 
expressed  it,  into  the  enemy's  country.  Prudently  will- 
ing to  quit  these  subjects,  he  was  doubtless  desirous  of 


222 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


fastening  on  others  that  which  could  not  be  transferred 
south  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  Line.  The  politics  of  New- 
England  became  his  theme;  and  it  was  in  this  part  of  his 
speech,  I  think,  that  he  menaced  me  with  such  sore  dis- 
comfiture. Discomfiture!  Why,  sir,  when  he  attacks  any- 
thing which  I  maintain,  and  overthrows  it;  when  he  turns 
the  right  or  left  of  any  position  which  I  take  up ;  when  he 
drives  me  from  any  ground  I  choose  to  occupy ;  he  may 
then  talk  of  discomfiture,  but  not  till  that  distant  day. 
What  has  he  done  ?  Has  he  maintained  his  own  charges  ? 
Has  he  proved  what  he  alleged  ?  Has  he  sustained  himself 
in  his  attack  on  the  government,  and  on  the  history  of  the 
North,  in  the  matter  of  the  public  lands  ?  Has  he  disproved 
a  fact,  refuted  a  proposition,  weakened  an  argument  main- 
tained by  me  ?  Has  he  come  within  beat  of  drum  of  any 
position  of  mine  ?  Oh,  no;  but  he  has  carried  the  war  into 
the  enemy's  country."  Carried  the  war  into  the  enemy's 
country!  Yes,  sir,  and  what  sort  of  a  war  has  he  made  of 
it?  Why,  sir,  he  has  stretched  a  drag-net  over  the  whole 
surface  of  perished  pamphlets,  indiscreet  sermons,  frothy 
paragraphs,  and  fuming  popular  addresses,  over  whatever 
the  pulpit,  in  its  moments  of  alarm,  the  press  in  its  heats, 
and  parties  in  their  extravagance  have  severally  thrown  off 
in  times  of  general  excitement  and  violence.  He  has  thus 
swept  together  a  mass  of  such  things  as,  but  that  they  are 
now  old  and  cold,  the  public  health  would  have  required 
him  rather  to  leave  in  their  state  of  dispersion.  For  a  good 
long  hour  or  two  we  had  the  unbroken  pleasure  of  listening 
to  the  honorable  member  while  he  recited,  with  his  usual 
grace  and  spirit,  and  with  evident  high  gusto,  speeches, 
pamphlets,  addresses,  and  all  the  et  ceteras  of  the  political 
pre^s,  such  as  Wr^rm  Jieads  produce  ip  w^rm  tiwea;  and 


THE  REPLY  TO  HAYNE 


223 


such  as  it  would  be  "discomfiture,"  indeed,  for  any  one 
whose  taste  did  not  delight  in  that  sort  of  reading  to  be 
obliged  to  peruse.  This  is  his  war.  This  is  to  carry  the 
war  into  the  enemy's  country.  It  is  in  an  invasion  of  this 
sort  that  he  flatters  himself  with  the  expectation  of  gaining 
laurels  fit  to  adorn  a  Senator's  brow! 

Mr.  President,  I  shall  not — it  will,  I  trust,  not  be  ex- 
pected that  I  should — either  now,  or  at  any  time,  separate 
this  farrago  into  parts,  and  answer  and  examine  its  com- 
ponents. I  shall  hardly  bestow  upon  it  all  a  general  re- 
mark or  two.  In  the  run  of  forty  years,  sir,  under  this 
Constitution,  we  have  experienced  sundry  successive  vio- 
lent party  contests.  Party  arose,  indeed,  with  the  Consti- 
tution itself,  and,  in  some  form  or  other,  has  attended  it 
through  the  greater  part  of  its  history.  Whether  any  other 
Constitution  than  the  old  Articles  of  Confederation  was  de- 
sirable, was  itself  a  question  on  which  parties  formed;  if  a 
new  Constitution  were  framed,  what  powers  should  be  given 
it,  was  another  question;  and  when  it  had  been  formed  what 
was,  in  fact,  the  just  extent  of  the  powers  actually  conferred, 
was  a  third.  Parties,  as  we  know,  existed  under  the  first 
administration,  as  distinctly  marked  as  those  which  have 
manifested  themselves  at  any  subsequent  period.  The 
contest  immediately  preceding  the  political  change  in 
1801,  and  that,  again,  which  existed  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  late  war,  are  other  instances  of  party  excite- 
ment of  something  more  than  usual  strength  and  intensity. 
In  all  these  conflicts  there  was,  no  doubt,  much  of  violence 
on  both  and  all  sides.  It  would  be  impossible,  if  one  had  a 
fancy  for  such  employment,  to  adjust  the  relative  quantum 
of  violence  between  these  contending  parties.  There  was 
enough  in  each,  as  must  always  be  expected  in  popular 


224 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


governments.  With  a  great  deal  of  proper  and  decorous 
discussion  there  was  mingled  a  great  deal  also  of  declama- 
tion, virulence,  crimination,  and  abuse.  In  regard  to  any 
party,  probably,  at  one  of  the  leading  epochs  in  the  history 
of  parties,  enough  maybe  found  to  make  out  another  equally 
inflamed  exhibition  as  that  with  which  the  honorable  mem- 
ber has  edified  us.  For  myself,  sir,  I  shall  not  rake  among 
the  rubbish  of  bygone  times  to  see  what  I  can  find,  or  whether 
I  cannot  find  something  by  which  I  can  fix  a  blot  on  the  es- 
cutcheon of  any  State,  any  party,  or  any  part  of  the  coun- 
try^  General  Washington's  administration  was  steadily  and 
zealously  maintained,  as  we  all  know,  by  New  England.  It 
was  violently  opposed  elsewhere.  We  know  in  what  quar- 
ter he  had  the  most  earnest,  constant,  and  persevering  sup- 
port in  all  his  great  and  leading  measures.  We  know  where 
his  private  and  personal  characters  were  held  in  the  highest 
degree  of  attachment  and  veneration;  and  we  know,  too, 
where  his  measures  were  opposed,  his  services  slighted, 
and  his  character  vilified.  We  know,  or  we  might  know, 
if  we  turned  to  the  journals,  who  expressed  respect,  grati- 
tude, and  regret  when  he  retired  from  the  Chief  Magistracy; 
and  who  refused  to  express  their  respect,  gratitude,  or  re- 
gret. I  shall  not  open  those  journals.  Publications  more 
abusive  or  scurrilous  never  saw  the  light  than  were  sent 
forth  against  Washington  and  all  his  leading  measures 
from  presses  south  of  New  England.  But  I  shall  not 
look  them  up.  I  employ  no  scavengers;  no  one  is  in 
attendance  on  me,  tendering  such  means  of  retaliation; 
and,  if  there  were,  with  an  ass's  load  of  them,  with  a 
bulk  as  huge  as  that  which  the  gentleman  himself  has 
r>roduced,  I  would  not  touch  one  of  them.  I  see  enough 
of  the  violence  of  our  own  times  to  be  in  no  way  anxious 


THE  REPLY  TO  HAYNE 


225 


to  rescue  from  forgetfulness  the  extravagances  of  times 
past.  Besides,  what  is  all  this  to  the  present  purpose? 
It  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  public  lands,  in  regard  to 
which  the  attack  was  begun ;  and  it  has  nothing  to  do  with 
those  sentiments  and  opinions  which,  I  have  thought,  tend 
to  disunion,  and  all  of  which  the  honorable  member  seems 
to  have  adopted  himself  and  undertaken  to  defend.  New 
England  has,  at  times,  so  argues  the  gentleman,  held  opin- 
ions as  dangerous  as  those  which  he  now  holds.  Suppose 
this  were  so,  why  should  he,  therefore,  abuse  New  Eng- 
land? If  he  finds  himself  countenanced  by  acts  of  hers, 
how  is  it  that,  while  he  relies  on  these  acts,  he  covers,  or 
seeks  to  cover,  their  authors  with  reproach  ?  But,  sir,  if, 
in  the  course  of  forty  years,  there  have  been  undue  effer- 
vescences of  party  in  New  England,  has  the  same  thing 
happened  nowhere  else?  Party  animosity  and  party  out- 
rage, not  in  New  England,  but  elsewhere,  denounced  Presi- 
dent Washington,  not  only  as  a  Federalist,  but  as  a  Tory,  a 
British  agent,  a  man  who,  in  his  high  office,  sanctioned  cor- 
ruption. But  does  the  honorable  member  suppose  that,  if 
I  had  a  tender  here  who  should  put  such  an  effusion  of 
wickedness  and  folly  in  my  hand,  that  I  would  stand  up 
and  read  it  against  the  South?  Parties  ran  into  great 
heats  again  in  1799  and  1800.  What  was  said,  sir,  or 
rather  what  was  not  said,  in  those  years  against  John 
Adams,  one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, and  its  admitted  ablest  defender  on  the  floor 
of  Congress?  If  the  gentleman  wishes  to  increase  his 
stores  of  party  abuse  and  frothy  violence;  if  he  has  a 
determined  proclivity  to  such  pursuits,  there  are  treasures 
of  that  sort  south  of  the  Potomac,  much  to  his  taste,  yet 
untouched — I  shall  not  touch  them. 

Vol.  5—15 


226 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


The  parties  which  divided  the  country  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  late  war  were  violent.  But,  then,  there  was  vio- 
lence on  both  sides  and  violence  in  every  State.  Minorities 
and  majorities  were  equally  violent.  There  was  no  more 
violence  against  the  war  in  New  England  than  in  other 
States;  nor  any  more  appearance  of  violence,  except  that, 
owing  to  a  dense  population,  greater  facility  of  assembling, 
and  more  presses,  there  may  have  been  more  in  quantity 
spoken  and  printed  there  than  in  some  other  places.  In 
the  article  of  sermons,  too,  New  England  is  somewhat  more 
abundant  than  South  Carolina;  and  for  that  reason  the 
chance  of  finding  here  and  there  an  exceptional  one  may 
be  greater.  I  hope,  too,  there  are  more  good  ones.  Op- 
position may  have  been  more  formidable  in  New  England, 
as  it  embraced  a  larger  portion  of  the  whole  population; 
but  it  was  no  more  unrestrained  in  its  principle,  or  vio- 
lent in  manner.  The  minorities  dealt  quite  as  harshly 
with  their  own  State  governments  as  the  majorities  dealt 
with  the  administration  here.  There  were  presses  on  both 
sides,  popular  meetings  on  both  sides,  ay,  and  pulpits  on 
both  sides,  also.  The  gentleman's  purveyors  have  only 
catered  for  him  among  the  productions  of  one  side.  I  cer- 
tainly shall  not  supply  the  deficiency  by  furnishing  samples 
of  the  other.  I  leave  to  him  and  to  them  the  whole  con- 
cern. 

It  is  enough  for  me  to  say  that  if,  in  any  part  of  this 
their  grateful  occupation;  if  in  all  their  researches  they  find 
anything  in  the  history  of  Massachusetts,  or  New  England, 
or  in  the  proceedings  of  any  legislative  or  other  public  body, 
disloyal  to  the  Union,  speaking  slightly  of  its  value,  propos- 
ing to  break  it  up,  or  recommending  non-intercourse  with 
neighboring  States,  on  account  of  difference  of  political 


THE  REPLY  TO  HAYNE 


227 


opinioa,  then,  sir,  I  give  them  all  up  to  the  honorable 
gentleman's  unrestrained  rebuke;,  expecting,  however,  that 
he  will  extend  his  buffetings  in  like  manner  to  all  similar 
proceedings,  wherever  else  found. 

The  gentleman,  sir,  has  spoken  at  large  of  former  parties, 
now  no  longer  in  being,  by  their  received  appellations,  and 
has  undertaken  to  instruct  us,  not  only  in  the  knowledge  of 
their  principles,  but  of  their  respective  pedigrees  also.  He 
has  ascended  to  the  origin  and  run  out  their  genealogies. 
With  most  exemplary  modesty  he  speaks  of  the  party  to 
which  he  professes  to  have  belonged  himself,  as  the  true 
pure,  the  only  honest,  patriotic  party,  derived  by  regular 
descent  from  father  to  son  from  the  time  of  the  virtuous 
Eomans!  Spreading  before  us  the  family  tree  of  political 
parties,  he  takes  especial  care  to  show  himself  snugly 
perched  on  a  popular  bough!  He  is  wakeful  to  the  ex- 
pediency of  adopting  such  rules  of  descent  as  shall  bring 
him  in,  in  exclusion  of  others,  as  an  heir  to  the  inheritance 
of  all  public  virtue  and  all  true  political  principle.  His 
party  and  his  opinions  are  sure  to  be  orthodox;  heterodoxy 
is  confined  to  his  opponents.  He  spoke,  sir,  of  the  Federal- 
ists, and  I  thought  I  saw  some  eyes  begin  to  open  and  stare 
a  little  when  he  ventured  on  that  ground.  1  expected  he 
would  draw  his  sketches  rather  lightly  when  be  looked  on 
the  circle  around  him,  and  especially  if  he  should  cast  his 
thoughts  to  the  high  places  out  of  the  Senate.  Neverthe- 
less, he  went  back  to  Rome,  ad  annum  urhe  condita^  and 
found  the  fathers  of  the  Federalists  in  the  primeval  aristo- 
crats of  that  renowned  empire !  He  traced  the  flow  of  Fed- 
eral blood  down  through  successive  ages  and  centuries  till 
he  brought  it  into  the  veins  of  the  American  Tories 
(of  whom,  by  the  way,  there  were  twenty  in  the  Carolinas 


228 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


for  one  in  Massachusetts).  From  the  Tories  he  followed  it 
to  the  Federalists ;  and  as  the  Federal  party  was  broken  up, 
and  there  was  no  possibility  of  transmitting  it  furthers  on 
this  side  the  Atlantic,  he  seems  to  have  discovered  that  it 
has  gone  off,  collaterally,  though  against  all  the  canons 
of  descent,  into  the  Ultras  of  France,  and  finally  become 
extinguished,  like  exploded  gas,  among  the  adherents  of 
Don  Miguel!  This,  sir,  is  an  abstract  of  the  gentleman's 
history  of  Federalism.  I  am  not  about  to  controvert  it. 
It  is  not  at  present  worth  the  pains  of  refutation ;  because, 
sir,  if  at  this  day  any  one  feels  the  sin  of  Federalism  lying 
heavily  on  his  conscience,  he  can  easily  procure  remission. 
He  may  even  obtain  an  indulgence,  if  he  be  desirous  of 
repeating  the  same  transgression.  It  is  an  affair  of  no  dif- 
ficulty to  get  into  the  same  right  line  of  patriotic  descent. 
A  man  nowadays  is  at  liberty  to  choose  his  political  pa- 
rentage. He  may  elect  his  own  father.  Federalist  or  not 
he  may,  if  he  choose,  claim  to  belong  to  the  favored  stock, 
and  his  claim  will  be  allowed.  He  may  carry  back  his  pre- 
tensions just  as  far  as  the  honorable  gentleman  himself; 
nay,  he  may  make  himself  out  the  honorable  gentleman's 
cousin,  and  prove  satisfactorily  that  he  is  descended  from 
the  same  political  great-grandfather.  All  this  is  allowable. 
We  all  know  a  process,  sir,  by  which  the  whole  Essex  Junto 
could,  in  one  hour,  be  all  washed  white  from  their  ancient 
Federalism,  and  come  out,  every  o;ne  of  them,  an  original 
Democrat,  dyed  in  the  wool!  Some  of  them  have  actually 
undergone  the  operation,  and  they  say  it  is  quite  easy.  The 
only  inconvenience  it  occasions,  as  they  tell  us,  is  a  slight 
tendency  of  the  blood  to  the  face,  a  soft  suffusion,  which, 
however,  is  very  transient,  since  nothing  is  said  by  those 
whom  they  join  calculated  to  deepen  the  red  on  the  cheek, 


THE   REPLY  TO  HAYNE 


229 


but  a  prudent  silence  observed  in  regard  to  all  the  past. 
Indeed,  sir,  some  smiles  of  approbation  have  been  bestowed, 
and  some  crumbs  of  comfort  have  fallen  not  a  thousand 
miles  from  the  door  of  the  Hartford  Convention  itself.  And 
if  the  author  of  the  Ordinance  of  1787  possessed  the  other 
lequisite  qualifications,  there  is  no  knowing,  notwithstand- 
ing his  Federalism,  to  what  heights  of  favor  he  might  not 
yet  attain. 

Mr.  President,  in  carrying  his  warfare,  such  as  it  was, 
into  New  England,  the  honorable  gentleman  all  along  pro- 
fesses to  be  acting  on  the  defensive.  He  elects  to  consider 
me  as  having  assailed  South  Carolina,  and  insists  that  he 
comes  forth  only  as  her  champion  and  in  her  defence.  Sir, 
I  do  not  admit  that  I  made  any  attack  whatever  on  South 
Carolina.  Nothing  like  it.  The  honorable  member  in  his 
first  speech  expressed  opinions  in  regard  to  revenue,  and 
some  other  topics,  which  I  heard  both  with  pain  and  with 
surprise.  I  told  the  gentleman  I  was  aware  that  such  sen- 
timents were  entertained  out  of  the  government,  but  had  not 
expected  to  nnd  them  advanced  in  it;  that  I  knew  there 
were  persons  in  the  South  who  speak  of  our  Union  with 
indifference  or  doubt,  taking  pains  to  magnify  its  evils  and 
to  say  nothing  of  its  benefits;  that  the  honorable  member 
himself  I  was  sure  could  never  be  one  of  these,  and  I  re- 
gretted the  expression  of  such  opinions  as  he  had  avowed 
because  I  thought  their  obvious  tendency  was  to  encourage 
feelings  of  disrespect  to  the  Union,  and  to  weaken  its  con- 
nection. This,  sir,  is  the  sum  and  substance  of  all  I  said  on 
the  subject.  And  this  constitutes  the  attack  which  called 
on  the  chivalry  of  the  gentleman,  in  his  own  opinion,  to 
harry  us  with  such  a  foray  among  the  party  pamphlets  and 
party  proceedings  of  Massachusetts  I    If  he  means  that  I 


230 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


spoke  with  dissatisfaction  or  disrespect  of  the  ebullitions 
of  individuals  in  South  Carolina,  it  is  true.  But  if  he 
means  that  I  had  assailed  the  character  of  the  State,  her 
honor  or  patriotism;  that  I  had  reflected  on  her  history  or 
her  conduct,  he  had  not  the  slightest  ground  for  any  such 
assumption.  I  did  not  even  refer,  I  think,  in  my  observa- 
tions, to  any  collection  of  individuals.  I  said  nothing  of 
the  recent  conventions.  I  spoke  in  the  most  guarded  and 
careful  manner,  and  only  expressed  my  regret  for  the  pub- 
lication of  opinions  which  I  presumed  the  honorable  mem- 
ber disapproved  as  much  as  myself.  In  this,  it  seems,  I 
was  mistaken.  I  do  not  remember  that  the  gentleman  has 
disclaimed  any  sentiment  or  any  opinion  of  a  supposed  anti- 
Union  tendency,  which  on  all  or  any  of  the  recent  occasions 
has  been  expressed.  The  whole  drift  of  his  speech  has  been 
rather  to  prove  that  in  divers  times  and  manners  sentiments 
equally  liable  to  my  objection  have  been  promulgated  in 
I^ew  England.  And  one  would  suppose  that  his  object 
in  this  reference  to  Massachusetts  was  to  find  a  precedent 
to  justify  proceedings  in  the  South  were  it  not  for  the 
reproach  and  contumely  with  which  he  labors  all  along  to 
load  these,  his  own  chosen  precedents.  By  way  of  defend- 
ing South  Carolina  from  what  he  chooses  to  think  an  attack 
on  her,  he  first  quotes  the  example  of  Massachusetts,  and 
then  denounces  that  example  in  good  set  terms.  This  two- 
fold purpose,  not  very  consistent  with  itself,  one  would 
think  was  exhibited  more  than  once  in  the  course  of  his 
speech.  He  referred,  for  instance,  to  the  Hartford  Conven- 
tion. Did  he  do  this  for  authority  or  for  a  topic  of  re- 
proach ?  Apparently  for  both ;  for  he  told  us  that  he  should 
find  no  fault  with  the  mere  fact  of  holding  such  a  conven- 
tion and  considering  and  discussing  such  questions  as  he 


THE  REPLY   TO  HAYNE 


231 


supposes  were  then  and  there  discussed;  but  what  rendered 
it  obnoxious  was  the  time  it  was  holden  and  the  circum- 
stances of  the  country  then  existing.  We  were  in  a  war, 
he  said,  and  the  country  needed  all  our  aid — the  hand  of 
government  required  to  be  strengthened,  not  weakened — 
and  patriotism  should  have  postponed  such  proceedings  to 
another  day.  The  thing  itself,  then,  is  a  precedent,  the 
time  and  manner  of  it  only  a  subject  of  censure.  Now,  sir, 
I  go  much  further  on  this  point  than  the  honorable  member. 
Supposing,  as  the  gentleman  seems  to,  that  the  Hartford 
Convention  assembled  for  any  such  purpose  as  breaking 
up  the  Union  because  they  thought  unconstitutional  laws 
had  been  passed,  or  to  consult  on  that  subject,  or  to  cal- 
culate the  value  of  the  Union — supposing  this  to  be  their 
purpose  or  any  part  of  it,  then,  I  say,  the  meeting  itself 
was  disloyal,  and  was  obnoxious  to  censure,  whether  held 
in  time  of  peace  or  time  of  war,  or  under  whatever  circum- 
stances. The  material  question  is  the  object.  Is  dissolu- 
tion the  object  ?  If  it  be,  external  circumstances  may  make 
it  a  more  or  less  aggravated  case,  but  cannot  affect  the  prin- 
ciple. I  do  not  hold,  therefore,  sir,  that  the  Hartford  Con- 
vention was  pardonable,  even  to  the  extent  of  the  gentle- 
man's admission,  if  its  objects  were  really  such  as  have  been 
imputed  to  it.  Sir,  there  never  was  a  time  under  any  degree 
of  excitement  in  which  the  Hartford  Convention,  or  any 
other  convention,  could  maintain  itself  one  moment  in  New 
England  if  assembled  for  any  such  purpose  as  the  gentle- 
man says  would  have  been  an  allowable  purpose.  To  hold 
conventions  to  decide  constitutional  law! — to  try  the  bind- 
ing validity  of  statutes  by  votes  in  a  convention!  Sir,  the 
Hartford  Convention,  I  presume,  would  not  desire  that  the 
honorable  gentleman  should  be  their  defender  or  advocate 


232 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


if  he  puts  their  case  upon  such  untenable  and  extravagant 
grounds. 

Then,  sir,  the  gentleman  has  no  fault  to  find  with  these 
recently  promulgated  South  Carolina  opinions.  And,  cer- 
tainly, he  need  have  none;  for  his  own  sentiments  as  now 
advanced,  and  advanced  on  reflection  as  far  as  I  have  been 
able  to  comprehend  them,  go  the  full  length  of  all  these 
opinions.  I  propose,  sir,  to  say  something  on  these,  and 
to  consider  how  far  they  are  just  and  constitutional.  Be- 
fore doing  that,  however,  let  me  observe  that  the  eulogium 
pronounced  on  the  character  of  the  State  of  South  Carolina 
by  the  honorable  gentleman  for  her  revolutionary  and  other 
merits  meets  my  hearty  concurrence.  I  shall  not  acknowl- 
edge that  the  honorable  member  goes  before  me  in  regard 
for  whatever  of  distinguished  talent  or  distinguished  charac- 
ter South  Carolina  has  produced.  I  claim  part  of  the  honor 
— I  partake  in  the  pride  of  her  great  names.  I  claim  them 
for  countrymen,  one  and  all.  The  Laurenses,  the  Eut- 
ledges,  the  Pinckneys,  the  Sumters,  the  Marions — Ameri- 
cans all — whose  fame  is  no  more  to  be  hemmed  in  by 
State  lines  than  their  talents  and  patriotism  were  capable 
of  being  circumscribed  within  the  same  narrow  limits.  In 
their  day  and  generation  they  served  and  honored  the  coun- 
try and  the  whole  country ;  and  their  renown  is  of  the  treas- 
ures of  the  whole  country.  Him  whose  honored  name  the 
gentleman  himself  bears — does  he  esteem  me  less  capable  of 
gratitude  for  his  patriotism  or  sympathy  for  his  sufferings 
than  if  his  eyes  had  first  opened  upon  the  light  of  Massa- 
chusetts instead  of  South  Carolina?  Sir,  does  he  suppose 
it  in  his  power  to  exhibit  a  Carolina  name  so  bright  as  to 
produce  envy  in  my  bosom?  No,  sir,  increased  gratifica- 
tion and  delight,  rather.    I  thank  God  that  if  I  am  gifted 


THE  REPLY  TO  HAYNE 


233 


with  little  of  the  spirit  which  is  able  to  raise  mortals  to  the 
skies,  I  have  yet  none,  as  I  trust,  of  that  other  spirit  which 
would  drag  angels  down.  When  I  shall  be  found,  sir,  in 
my  place  here  in  the  Senate,  or  elsewhere,  to  sneer  at  pub- 
lic merit  because  it  happens  to  spring  up  beyond  the  little 
limits  of  my  own  State  or  neighborhood ;  when  I  refuse  for 
any  such  cause,  or  for  any  cause,  the  homage  due  to  Ameri- 
can talent,  to  elevated  patriotism,  to  sincere  devotion  to  lib- 
erty and  the  country ;  or,  if  I  see  an  uncommon  endowment 
of  heaven — if  I  see  extraordinary  capacity  and  virtue  in  any 
son  of  the  South — and  if,  moved  by  local  prejudice,  or  gan- 
grened by  State  jealousy,  I  get  up  here  to  abate  the  tithe  of 
a  hair  from  his  just  character  and  just  fame,  may  my  tongue 
cleave  to  the  roof  of  my  mouth ! 

Sir,  let  me  recur  to  pleasing  recollections — let  me  in- 
dulge in  refreshing  remembrances  of  the  past — let  me  re- 
mind you  that  in  early  times  no  States  cherished  greater 
harmony,  both  of  principle  and  feeling,  than  Massachusetts 
and  South  Carolina.  "Would  to  God  that  harmony  might 
again  return !  Shoulder  to  shoulder  they  went  through  the 
Kevolution — hand  in  hand  they  stood  round  the  adminis- 
tration of  Washington  and  felt  his  own  great  arm  lean  on 
them  for  support.  Unkind  feeling,  if  it  exists,  alienation 
and  distrust,  are  the  growth,  unnatural  to  such  soils,  of 
false  principles  since  sown.  They  are  weeds,  the  seeds  of 
which  that  same  great  arm  never  scattered. 

Mr.  President,  I  shall  enter  on  no  encomium  upon 
Massachusetts — she  needs  none.  There  she  is — behold  her, 
and  judge  for  yourselves.  There  is  her  history;  the  world 
knows  it  by  heart.  The  past,  at  least,  is  secure.  There  is 
Boston,  and  Concord,  and  Lexington,  and  Bunker  Hill — 
and  there  they  will  remain  forever.    The  bones  of  her  sons. 


234 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


falling  in  the  great  straggle  for  independence,  now  lie 
mmgied  with  the  soil  of  every  State,  from  New  England 
to  (jeorgia;  and  there  they  will  lie  forever.  And,  sir, 
where  American  liberty  raised  its  first  voice;  and  where 
its  youth  was  nurtured  and  sustained,  there  it  still  lives,  in 
the  strength  of  its  manhood  and  full  of  its  original  spirit, 
if  discord  and  disunion  shall  wound  it — if  party  strife  and 
blind  ambition  shall  hawk  at  and  tear  it — if  folly  and  mad- 
ness— if  uneasiness,  under  salutary  and  necessary  restraint 
shall  succeed  to  separate  it  from  that  union  by  which  alone 
its  existence  is  made  sure,  it  will  stand,  in  the  end,  by  the 
side  of  that  cradle  in  which  its  infancy  was  rocked;  it  will 
stretch  forth  its  arm  with  whatever  of  vigor  it  may  still  re- 
tain, over  the  friends  who  gather  round  it;  and  it  will  fall 
at  last,  if  fall  it  must,  amid  the  proudest  monuments  of  its 
own  glory,  and  on  the  very  spot  of  its  origin. 

There  yet  remains  to  be  performed,  Mr.  President,  by  far 
the  most  grave  and  important  duty,  which  I  feel  to  be  de- 
volved on  me  by  this  occasion.  It  is  to  state  and  to  defend 
what  I  conceive  to  be  the  true  principles  of  the  Constitution 
under  which  we  are  here  assembled.  I  might  well  have 
desired  that  so  weighty  a  task  should  have  fallen  into  other 
and  abler  hands.  I  could  have  wished  that  it  should  have 
been  executed  by  those  whose  character  and  experience 
give  weight  and  influence  to  their  opinions,  such  as  cannot 
possibly  belong  to  mine.  But,  sir,  I  have  met  the  occasion, 
not  sought  it;  and  I  shall  proceed  to  state  my  own  senti- 
ments, without  challenging  for  them  any  particular  regard, 
with  studied  plainness  and  as  much  precision  as  possible. 

I  understand  the  honorable  gentleman  from  South  Caro- 
lina to  maintain  that  it  is  a  right  of  the  State  Legislatures 
to  interfere,  whenever,  in  their  judgment,  this  government 


THE   REPLY  TO  HAYNE 


235 


transcends  its  constitutional  limits,  and  to  arrest  the  opera- 
tion of  its  laws. 

1  understand  him  to  maintain  this  right;  as  a  right  ex. 
isting  under  the  Constitution,  not  as  a  right  to  overthrow 
it  on  the  ground  of  extreme  necessity,  such  as  would  justify 
violent  revolution. 

I  understand  him  to  maintain  an  authority,  on  the  part 
of  the  States,  thus  to  interfere,  for  the^purpose  of  correcting 
the  exercise  of  power  by  the  general  government,  of  check- 
ing it  and  of  compelling  it  to  conform  to  their  opinion  of 
the  extent  of  its  powers. 

I  understand  him  to  maintain  that  the  ultimate  power 
of  judging  of  the  constitutional  extent  of  its  own  authority 
is  not  lodged  exclusively  in  the  general  government  or  any 
branch  of  it;  but  that,  on  the  contrary,  the  States  may 
lawfully  decide  for  themselves,  and  each  State  for  itself, 
whether  in  a  given  case  the  act  of  the  general  government 
transcends  its  power. 

I  understand  him  to  insist  that  if  the  exigency  of  the 
case,  in  the  opinion  of  any  State  government,  requires  it, 
such  State  government  may,  by  its  own  sovereign  authority, 
annul  an  act  of  the  general  government  which  it  deems 
plainly  and  palpably  unconstitutional. 

This  is  the  sum  of  what  I  understand  from  him  to  be 
the  South  Carolina  doctrine,  and  the  doctrine  which  he 
maintains.  I  propose  to  consider  it  and  compare  it  with 
the  Constitution.  Allow  me  to  say  as  a  preliminary  remark 
that  I  call  this  the  South  Carolina  doctrine  only  because  the 
gentleman  himself  has  so  denominated  it.  I  do  not  feel  at 
liberty  to  say  that  South  Carolina,  as  a  State,  has  ever  ad- 
vanced these  sentiments.  I  hope  she  has  not  and  never 
may.    That  a  great  majority  of  her  people  are  opposed  to 


286 


DANIEL  WEBSTUR 


the  tarilf  laws  is  doubtless  true.  That  a  majority  somewhat 
less  than  that  just  mentioned  conscientiously  believe  these 
laws  unconstitutional  may  probably  also  be  true.  But  that 
any  majority  holds  to  the  right  of  direct  State  interference 
at  State  discretion,  the  right  of  nullitying  acts  of  Congress 
by  acts  of  State  legislation,  is  more  than  I  know  and  what 
1  shall  be  slow  to  believe. 

That  there  are  individuals  besides  the  honorable  gentle- 
man who  do  maintain  these  opinions  is  quite  certain.  I 
recollect  the  recent  expression  of  a  sentiment,  which  cir- 
cumstances attending  its  utterance  and  publication  justify 
us  in  supposing  was  not  unpremeditated.  "The  sovereignty 
of  the  State — never  to  be  controlled,  construed,  or  decided 
on,  but  by  her  own  feelings  of  honorable  justice." 

Mr.  Hayne  here  rose  and  said  that  for  the  purpose  of 
being  clearly  understood  he  would  state  that  his  proposi- 
tion was  in  the  words  of  the  Virginia  Eesolution  as  follows: 

"That  this  assembly  doth  explicitly  and  peremptorily 
declare  that  it  views  the  powers  of  the  Federal  Government 
as  resulting  from  the  compact  to  which  the  States  are  parties, 
as  limited  by  the  plain  sense  and  intention  of  the  instrument 
constituting  that  compact,  as  no  further  valid  than  they  are 
authorized  by  the  grants  enumerated  in  that  compact;  and 
that,  in  case  of  a  deliberate,  palpable,  and  dangerous  exer- 
cise of  other  powers,  not  granted  by  the  said  compact,  the 
States  who  are  parties  thereto  have  the  right  and  are  in  duty 
bound  to  interpose,  for  arresting  the  progress  of  the  evil  and 
for  maintaining  within  their  respective  limits  the  authorities, 
rights,  and  liberties  appertaining  to  them." 

I  am  quite  aware,  Mr.  President,  of  the  existence  of  the 
resolution  which  the  gentleman  read  and  has  now  repeated, 
and  that  he  relies  on  it  as  his  authority.  I  know  the  source, 
too,  from  which  it  is  understood  to  have  proceeded.    I  need 


THE   REPLY  TO  HAYNB 


237 


not  say  that  I  have  much  respect  for  the  constitutional  opin- 
ions of  Mr.  Madison;  they  would  weigh  greatly  with  me  al- 
ways. But,  before  the  authority  of  his  opinion  be  vouched 
for  the  gentleman*s  proposition,  it  will  be  proper  to  consider 
what  is  the  fair  interpretation  of  that  resolution  to  which 
Mr.  Madison  is  understood  to  have  given  his  sanction.  As 
the  gentleman  construes  it,  it  is  an  authority  for  him.  Pos- 
sibly he  may  not  have  adopted  the  right  construction. 
That  resolution  declares  that  in  the  case  of  the  dangerous 
exercise  of  powers  not  granted  by  the  general  government, 
the  States  may  interpose  to  arrest  the  progress  of  the  evil. 
But  how  interpose,  and  what  does  this  declaration  purport? 
Does  it  mean  no  more  than  that  there  may  be  extreme  cases 
in  which  the  people  in  any  mode  of  assembling  may  resist 
usurpation  and  relieve  themselves  from  a  tyrannical  govern- 
ment? No  one  will  deny  this.  Such  resistance  is  not  only 
acknowledged  to  be  just  in  America,  but  in  England  also. 
Blackstone  admits  as  much  in  the  theory  and  practice, 
too,  of  the  English  Constitution.  We,  sir,  who  oppose  the 
Carolina  doctrine  do  not  deny  that  the  people  may,  if  they 
choose,  throw  off  any  government  when  it  becomes  oppres- 
sive and  intolerable,  and  erect  a  better  in  its  stead.  We  all 
know  that  civil  institutions  are  established  for  the  public 
benefit  and  that  when  they  cease  to  answer  the  ends  of  their 
existence  they  may  be  changed.  But  I  do  not  understand 
the  doctrine  now  contended  for  to  be  that  which,  for  the 
sake  of  distinctness,  we  may  call  the  right  of  revolution. 
I  understand  the  gentleman  to  maintain  that,  without  revo- 
lution, without  civil  commotion,  without  rebellion,  a  rem- 
edy for  supposed  abuse  and  transgression  of  the  powers  of 
the  general  government  lies  in  a  direct  appeal  to  the  inter- 
ference of  the  State  governments. 


238 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


Mr.  Hayne  here  rose.  He  did  not  contend,  he  said,  for 
the  mere  right  of  revolution,  but  for  the  right  of  constitu- 
tional resistance.  What  he  maintained  was  that,  in  case  of 
a  plain,  palpable  violation  of  the  Constitution  by  the  general 
government,  a  State  may  interpose,  and  that  this  interposi- 
tion is  constitutional. 

So,  sir,  I  understood  the  gentleman,  and  am  happy  to 
find  that  1  did  not  misunderstand  him.  What  he  contends 
for  is  that  it  is  constitutional  to  interrupt  the  administration 
of  the  Constitution  itself  in  the  hands  of  those  who  are 
chosen  and  sworn  to  administer  it,  by  the  direct  interfer- 
ence in  form  of  law  of  the  States  in  virtue  of  their  sovereign 
capacity.  The  inherent  right  in  the  people  to  reform  their 
government  I  do  not  deny;  and  they  have  another  right, 
and  that  is  to  resist  unconstitutional  laws  without  over- 
turning the  government.  It  is  no  doctrine  of  mine  that 
unconstitutional  laws  bind  the  people.  The  great  question 
is:  Whose  prerogative  is  it  to  decide  on  the  constitution- 
ality or  unconstitutionality  of  the  laws?  On  that  the  main 
debate  hinges.  The  proposition  that,  in  case  of  a  supposed 
violation  of  the  Constitution  by  Congress,  the  States  have 
a  constitutional  right  to  interfere  and  annul  the  law  of  Con- 
gress, is  the  proposition  of  the  gentleman:  I  do  not  admit 
it.  If  the  gentleman  had  intended  no  more  than  to  assert 
the  right  of  revolution  for  justifiable  cause,  he  would  have 
said  only  what  all  agree  to.  But  I  cannot  conceive  that 
there  can  be  a  middle  course  between  submission  to  the 
laws,  when  regularly  pronounced  constitutional,  on  the  one 
hand,  and  open  resistance,  which  is  revolution  or  rebellion, 
on  the  other.  I  say  the  right  of  a  State  to  annul  a  law  of 
Congress  cannot  be  maintained  but  on  the  ground  of  the 
inalienable  right  of  man  to  resist  oppression;  that  is  to 


THE  REPLY  TO  HAYNE 


239 


say,  upon  the  ground  of  revolution.  I  admit  that  there  is 
an  ultimate  violent  remedy  above  the  Constitution  and 
in  defiance  of  the  Constitution,  which  may  be  resorted  to 
when  a  revolution  is  to  be  justified.  But  I  do  not  admit 
that  under  the  Constitution,  and  in  conformity  with  it, 
there  is  any  mode  in  which  a  State  government,  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  U  nion,  can  interfere  and  stop  the  progress  of  the 
general  government,  by  force  of  her  own  laws,  under  any 
circumstances  whatever. 

This  leads  us  to  inquire  into  the  origin  of  this  govern- 
ment and  the  source  of  its  power.  Whose  agent  is  it  ?  Is 
it  the  creature  of  the  State  Legislatures,  or  the  creature  of 
the  people?  If  the  government  of  the  United  States  be  the 
agent  of  the  State  governments,  then  they  may  control  it, 
provided  they  can  agree  in  the  manner  of  controlling  it;  if 
it  be  the  agent  of  the  people,  then  the  people  alone  can 
control  it,  restrain  it,  modify,  or  reform  it.  It  is  observable 
enough  that  the  doctrine  for  which  the  honorable  gentleman 
contends  leads  him  to  the  necessity  of  maintaining,  not  only 
that  this  general  government  is  the  creature  of  the  States, 
but  that  it  is  the  creature  of  each  of  the  States  severally;  so 
that  each  may  assert  the  power  for  itself  of  determining 
whether  it  acts  within  the  limits  of  its  authority.  It  is  the 
servant  of  four  and  twenty  masters,  of  different  wills  and 
di£ferent  purposes,  and  yet  bound  to  obey  all.  This  ab- 
surdity (for  it  seems  no  less)  arises  from  a  misconception 
as  to  the  origin  of  this  government  and  its  true  character. 
It  is,  sir,  the  people's  Constitution,  the  people's  govern- 
ment; made  for  the  people,  made  by  the  people,  and 
answerable  to  the  people.  The  people  of  the  United  States 
have  declared  that  this  Constitution  shall  be  the  supreme 
law.    We  must  either  admit  the  propositioo,  or  dispute 


240 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


their  authority.  The  States  are,  unquestionably,  sover- 
eign, so  far  as  their  sovereignty  is  not  afEected  by  this  su- 
preme law.  But  the  State  Legislatures,  as  political  bodies, 
however  sovereign,  are  yet  not  sovereign  over  the  people. 
So  far  as  the  people  have  given  power  to  the  general  gov- 
ernment, so  far  the  grant  is  unquestionably  good,  and  the 
government  holds  of  the  people,  and  not  of  the  State 
governments.  "We  are  all  agents  of  the  same  supreme 
power,  the  people.  The  general  government  and  the  State 
governments  derive  their  authority  from  the  same  source. 
Neither  can,  in  relation  to  the  other,  be  called  primary, 
though  one  is  definite  and  restricted  and  the  other  general 
and  residuary.  The  national  government  possesses  those 
powers  which  it  can  be  shown  the  people  have  conferred 
on  it,  and  no  more.  All  the  rest  belong  to  the  State  gov- 
ernments or  to  the  people  themselves.  So  far  as  the  people 
have  restrained  State  sovereignty,  by  the  expression  of 
their  will,  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  so  far, 
it  must  be  admitted.  State  sovereignty  is  effectually  con- 
trolled. I  do  not  contend  that  it  is,  or  ought  to  be,  con- 
trolled further.  The  sentiment  to  which  I  have  referred 
propounds  that  State  sovereignty  is  only  to  be  controlled 
by  its  own  "feeling  of  justice";  that  is  to  say,  it  is  not  to 
be  controlled  at  all ;  for  one  who  is  to  follow  his  own  feel- 
ings is  under  no  legal  control.  Now,  however  men  may 
think  this  ought  to  be,  the  fact  is  that  the  people  of  the 
United  States  have  chosen  to  impose  control  on  State 
sovereignties.  There  are  those,  doubtless,  who  wish  they 
had  been  left  without  restraint;  but  the  Constitution  has 
ordered  the  matter  differently.  To  make  war,  for  instance, 
is  an  exercise  of  sovereignty ;  but  the  Constitution  declares 
that  no  State  shall  make  war.    To  coin  money  is  another 


THE  REPLY  TO  HAYNE 


241 


exercise  of  sovereign  power;  but  no  State  is  at  liberty  to 
coin  money.  Again,  the  Constitution  says  that  no  sover- 
eign State  shall  be  so  sovereign  as  to  make  a  treaty.  These 
prohibitions,  it  must  be  confessed,  are  a  control  on  the  State 
sovereignty  of  South  Carolina,  as  well  as  of  the  other  States, 
which  does  not  arise  "from  her  own  feelings  of  honorable 
justice."  Such  an  opinion,  therefore,  is  in  defiance  of  the 
plainest  provisions  of  the  Constitution. 

There  are  other  proceedings  of  public  bodies  which  have 
already  been  alluded  to,  and  to  which  I  refer  again  for  the 
purpose  of  ascertaining  more  fully  what  is  the  length  and 
breadth  of  that  doctrine,  denominated  the  Carolina  doctrine, 
which  the  honorable  member  has  now  stood  upon  this  floor 
to  maintain.  In  one  of  them  I  find  it  resolved  that  "the 
tariff  of  1828,  and  every  other  tariff  designed  to  promote 
one  branch  of  industry  at  the  expense  of  others,  is  con- 
trary to  the  meaning  and  intention  of  the  Federal  com- 
pact; and  is  such  a  dangerous,  palpable  and  deliberate 
usurpation  of  power,  by  a  determined  majority,  wielding 
the  general  government  beyond  the  limits  of  its  delegated 
powers,  as  calls  upon  the  States  which  compose  the  suffer- 
ing minority,  in  their  sovereign  capacity,  to  exercise  the 
powers  which,  as  sovereigns,  necessarily  devolve  upon  them 
when  their  compact  is  violated." 

Observe,  sir,  that  this  resolution  holds  the  tariff  of  1828, 
and  every  other  tariff,  designed  to  promote  one  branch  of 
industry  at  the  expense  of  another,  to  be  such  a  dangerous, 
palpable  and  deliberate  usurpation  of  power,  as  calls  upon 
the  States,  in  their  sovereign  capacity,  to  interfere  by  their 
own  authority.  This  denunciation,  Mr.  President,  you  will 
please  to  observe,  includes  our  old  tariff  of  1816,  as  well  as 
all  others;  because  that  was  established  to  promote  the  in- 

Vol.  5-16 


242 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


terest  of  the  manufactures  of  cotton,  to  ttie  manifest  and 
admitted  injury  of  the  Calcutta  cotton  trade.  Observe, 
again,  that  all  the  qualifications  are  here  rehearsed  and 
charged  upon  the  tariff,  which  are  necessary  to  bring  the 
case  within  the  gentleman's  proposition.  The  tariff  is  a 
usurpation;  it  is  a  dangerous  usurpation;  it  is  a  palpable 
usurpation;  it  is  a  deliberate  usurpation.  It  is  such  a 
usurpation,  therefore,  as  calls  upon  the  States  to  exercise 
their  right  of  interference.  Here  is  a  case,  then,  within 
the  gentleman's  principles,  and  all  his  qualifications  of 
his  principles.  It  is  a  case  for  action.  The  Constitutioa 
is  plainly,  dangerously,  palpably  and  deliberately  violated; 
and  the  States  must  interpose  their  own  authority  to  arrest 
the  law.  Let  us  suppose  the  State  of  South  Carolina  to 
express  this  same  opinion  by  the  voice  of  her  Legislature. 
That  would  be  very  imposing;  but  what  then?  Is  the 
voice  of  one  State  conclusive  ?  It  so  happens  that  at  the 
very  moment  when  South  Carolina  resolves  that  the  tariff 
laws  are  unconstitutional,  Pennsylvania  and  Kentucky  re- 
solve exactly  the  reverse.  They  hold  those  laws  to  be 
both  highly  proper  and  strictly  constitutional.  And  now, 
sir,  how  does  the  honorable  member  propose  to  deal  with 
this  case?  How  does  he  relieve  us  from  this  difficulty 
upon  any  principle  of  his?  His  construction  gets  us 
into  it;  how  does  he  propose  to  get  us  out? 

In  Carolina  the  tariff  is  a  palpable,  deliberate  usurpa- 
tion; Carolina,  therefore,  may  nullify  it,  and  refuse  to  pay 
the  duties.  In  Pennsylvania  it  is  both  clearly  constitu- 
tional and  highly  expedient;  and  there  the  duties  are  to 
be  paid.  And  yet  we  live  under  a  government  of  uni- 
form laws,  and  under  a  Constitution,  too,  which  con- 
tains an  express  provision,  as  it  happens,  that  all  duties 


THE   REPLY   TO  IIAYNE 


243 


shall  be  equal  in  all  the  States.  Does  not  this  approach 
absurdity  ? 

If  there  be  no  power  to  settle  such  questions,  independ- 
ent of  either  of  the  States,  is  not  the  whole  Union  a  rope  of 
pand?  Are  we  not  thrown  back  again  precisely  upon  the 
dd  confederation? 

It  is  too  plain  to  be  argued.  Four-and-twenty  interpre- 
ters of  constitutional  law,  each  with  a  power  to  decide  for 
itself,  and  none  with  authority  to  bind  anybody  else,  and 
this  constitutional  law  the  only  bond  of  their  union!  What 
is  such  a  state  of  things  but  a  mere  connection  during  pleas- 
ure, or,  to  use  the  phraseology  of  the  times,  during  feeling? 
And  that  feeling,  too,  not  the  feeling  of  the  people,  who 
established  the  Constitution,  but  the  feeling  of  the  State 
governments. 

In  another  of  the  South  Carolina  addresses,  having 
premised  that  the  crisis  requires  "all  the  concentrated 
energy  of  passion,"  an  attitude  of  open  resistance  to  the 
laws  of  the  Union  is  advised.  Open  resistance  to  the  laws, 
then,  is  the  constitutional  remedy,  the  conservative  power 
of  the  State,  which  the  South  Carolina  doctrines  teach  for 
the  redress  of  political  evils,  real  or  imaginary.  And  its 
authors  further  say  that,  appealing  with  confidence  to  the 
Constitution  itself  to  justify  their  opinions,  they  cannot 
consent  to  try  their  accuracy  by  the  courts  of  justice.  In 
one  sense,  indeed,  sir,  this  is  assuming  an  attitude  of 
open  resistance  in  favor  of  liberty.  But  what  sort  of 
liberty?  The  liberty  of  establishing  their  own  opinions, 
in  defiance  of  the  opinions  of  all  others  ;  the  liberty  of 
judging  and  of  deciding  exclusively  themselves,  in  a  mat- 
ter in  which  others  have  as  much  right  to  judge  and  decide 
as  they ;  the  liberty  of  placing  their  own  opinions  above  the 


244 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


judgment  of  all  others,  above  the  laws,  and  above  the  Con- 
stitution. This  is  their  liberty,  and  this  is  the  fair  result  ot 
the  proposition  contended  for  by  the  honorable  gentleman. 
Or  it  may  be  more  properly  said,  it  is  identical  with  it, 
rather  than  a  result  from  it. 

In  the  same  publication  we  find  the  following: 
''Previously  to  our  Revolution,  when  the  arm  of  oppres- 
sion was  stretched  over  New  England,  where  did  our  North- 
ern brethren  meet  with  a  braver  sympathy  than  that  which 
sprang  from  the  bosoms  of  Carolinians?  We  had  no  extor- 
tion, no  oppression,  no  collision  with  the  king's  ministers, 
no  navigation  interests  springing  up  in  envious  rivalry  of 
England/' 

This  seems  extraordinary  language.  South  Carolina 
no  collision  with  the  king's  ministers  in  1775!  No  extor- 
tion! No  oppression !  But,  sir,  it  is  also  most  significant 
language.  Does  any  man  doubt  the  purpose  for  which  it 
was  penned  ?  Can  any  one  fail  to  see  that  it  was  designed 
to  raise  io  the  reader's  mind  the  question  whether,  at  this 
time — that  is  to  say,  in  1828 — South  Carolina  has  any  col- 
lision with  the  king's  ministers,  any  oppression,  or  extor- 
tion to  fear  from  England?  Whether,  in  short,  England 
is  not  as  naturally  the  friend  of  South  Carolina,  as  New 
England  with  her  navigation  interests  springing  up  in  en- 
vious rivalry  of  England  ? 

Is  it  not  strange,  sir,  that  an  intelligent  man  in  South 
Carolina  in  1828  should  thus  labor  to  prove  that  in  1775 
there  was  no  hostility,  no  cause  of  war  between  South 
Carolina  and  England?  That  she  had  no  occasion  in 
reference  to  her  own  interest,  or  from  a  regard  to  her 
own  welfare,  to  take  up  arms  in  the  Eevolutionary  con 
test?    Can  any  one  account  for  the  expression  of  such 


THE   REPLY  TO  HAYNE 


245 


strange  sentiments  and  their  circulation  through  the  State, 
otherwise  than  by  supposing  the  object  to  be  what  I  have 
already  intimated,  to  raise  the  question  if  they  had  no  "col- 
lision'' (mark  the  expression)  with  the  ministers  of  King 
George  III.,  in  1775,  what  collision  have  they  in  1828  with 
the  ministers  of  King  George  IV.  ?  What  is  there  now  in 
the  existing  state  of  things  to  separate  Carolina  from  Old 
more,  or  rather,  than  from  New  England  ? 

Eesolutions,  sir,  have  been  recently  passed  by  the  Legis- 
lature of  South  Carolina.  I  need  not  refer  to  them;  they  go 
no  further  than  the  honorable  gentleman  himself  has  gone — 
and  I  hope  not  so  far.  I  content  myself,  therefore,  with 
debating  the  matter  with  him. 

And  now,  sir,  what  I  have  first  to  say  on  this  subject  is 
that  at  no  time  and  under  no  circumstances  has  New  Eng- 
land or  any  State  in  New  England,  or  any  respectable  body 
of  persons  in  New  England,  or  any  public  man  of  standing 
in  New  England,  put  forth  such  a  doctrine  as  this  Carolina 
doctrine. 

The  gentleman  has  found  no  case,  he  can  find  none,  to 
support  his  own  opinions  by  New  England  authority.  New 
England  has  studied  the  Constitution  in  other  schools  and 
under  other  teachers.  She  looks  upon  it  with  other  regards, 
and  deems  more  highly  and  reverently  both  of  its  just  au- 
thority and  its  utility  and  excellence.  The  history  of  her 
legislative  proceedings  may  be  traced — the  ephemeral  effu- 
sions of  temporary  bodies,  called  together  by  the  excite- 
ment of  the  occasion,  may  be  hunted  up — they  have  been 
hunted  up.  The  opinions  and  votes  of  her  public  men, 
in  and  out  of  Congress,  may  be  explored — it  will  all  be 
in  vain.  The  Carolina  doctrine  can  derive  from  her  neither 
countenance  nor  support.    She  rejects  it  now;  she  always 


246 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


did  reject  it;  and  till  she  loses  her  senses,  she  ahyays  will 
reject  it.  The  honorable  member  has  referred  to  expres- 
sions on  the  subject  of  the  Embargo  law  made  in  this  place 
by  an  honorable  and  venerable  gentleman  [Mr.  Hillhouse] 
now  favoring  us  with  his  presence.  He  quotes  that  dis- 
tinguished Senator  as  saying  that,  in  his  judgment,  the 
J^mbargo  law  was  unconstitutional,  and  that,  therefore,  in 
his  opinion  the  people  were  not  bound  to  obey  it.  That, 
sir,  is  perfectly  constitutional  language.  An  unconstitu- 
tional law  is  not  binding;  but  then  it  does  not  rest  with 
a  resolution  or  a  law  of  a  State  Legislature  to  decide 
whether  an  act  of  Congress  be  or  be  not  constitutional. 
An  unconstitutional  act  of  Congress  would  not  bind  the 
people  of  this  district,  although  they  have  no  Legislature 
to  interfere  in  their  behalf;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  a 
constitutional  law  of  Congress  does  bind  the  citizens  of 
every  State,  although  all  their  Legislatures  should  under- 
take to  annul  it  by  act  or  resolution.  The  venerable  Con- 
necticut Senator  is  a  constitutional  lawyer  of  sound  prin- 
ciples and  enlarged  knowledge;  a  statesman  practiced  and 
experienced,  bred  in  the  company  of  Washington,  and 
holding  just  views  upon  the  nature  of  our  governments, 
fie  believed  the  Embargo  unconstitutional,  and  so  did 
others;  but  what  then?  Who  did  he  suppose  was  to  de- 
cide that  question  ?  The  State  Legislatures  ?  Certainly 
not.  No  such  sentiment  ever  escaped  his  lips.  Let  us 
follow  up,  sir,  this  New  England  opposition  to  the  Em- 
bargo laws;  let  us  trace  it  till  we  discern  the  principle 
which  controlled  and  governed  New  England  throughout 
the  whole  course  of  that  opposition.  We  shall  then  see 
what  similarity  there  is  between  the  New  England  school 
of  constitutional  opinions  and  this  modern  Carolina  school. 


THE  REPLY  TO  llAYNE 


247 


The  gentleman,  I  think,  read  a  petition  from  some  single 
individual,  addressed  to  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts, 
asserting  the  Carolina  doctrine — that  is,  the  right  of  State 
interference  to  arrest  the  laws  of  the  Union.  The  fate  of 
that  petition  shows  the  sentiment  of  the  Legislature.  It 
met  no  favor.  The  opinions  of  Massachusetts  were  other- 
wise. They  had  been  expressed  in  1798  in  answer  to  the 
resolutions  of  Virginia,  and  she  did  not  depart  from  them, 
nor  bend  them  to  the  times.  Misgoverned,  wronged,  op- 
pressed as  she  felt  herself  to  be,  she  still  held  fast  her  in- 
tegrity to  the  Union.  The  gentleman  may  find  in  her 
proceedings  much  evidence  of  dissatisfaction  with  the 
measures  of  government,  and  great  and  deep  dislike  to 
the  Embargo ;  all  this  makes  the  case  so  much  the  stronger 
for  her ;  for  notwithstanding  all  this  dissatisfaction  and  dis- 
like, she  claimed  no  right,  still,  to  sever  asunder  the  bonds 
of  the  Union.  There  was  heat  and  there  was  anger  in  her 
political  feeling.  Be  it  so !  Her  heat  or  her  anger  did  not, 
nevertheless,  betray  her  into  infidelity  to  the  government. 
The  gentleman  labors  to  prove  that  she  disliked  the  Em- 
bargo as  much  as  South  Carolina  dislikes  the  tariff,  and 
expressed  her  dislike  as  strongly.  Be  it  so ;  but  did  she 
propose  the  Carolina  remedy? — did  she  threaten  to  inter- 
fere, by  State  authority,  to  annul  the  laws  of  the  Union? 
That  is  the  question  for  the  gentleman's  consideration. 

ISTo  doubt,  sir,  a  great  majority  of  the  people  of  'New 
England  conscientiously  believed  the  Embargo  law  of  1807 
unconstitutional;  as  conscientiously,  certainly,  as  the  peo- 
ple of  South  Carolina  hold  that  opinion  of  the  tariff.  They 
reasoned  thus:  Congress  has  power  to  regulate  commerce; 
but  here  is  a  law,  they  said,  stopping  all  commerce,  and 
stopping  it  indefinitely.    The  law  is  perpetual;  that  is,  it 


248 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


is  not  limited  in  point  of  time,  and  must,  of  course,  con- 
tinue until  it  shall  be  repealed  by  some  other  law.  It  is 
as  perpetual,  therefore,  as  the  law  against  treason  or  mur- 
der. Now,  is  this  regulating  commerce  or  destroying  it? 
Is  it  guiding,  controlling,  giving  the  rule  to  commerce,  as 
a  subsisting  thing;  or  is  it  putting  an  end  to  it  altogether? 
Nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  a  majority  in  New  Eng- 
land deemed  this  law  a  violation  of  the  Constitution.  The 
very  case  required  by  the  gentleman  to  justify  State  inter- 
ference had  then  arisen.  Massachusetts  believed  this  law 
to  be  "a  deliberate,  palpable,  and  dangerous  exercise  of  a 
power  not  granted  by  the  Constitution."  Deliberate  it  was, 
for  it  was  long  continued;  palpable  she  thought  it,  as  no 
words  in  the  Constitution  gave  the  power,  and  only  a  con- 
struction, in  her  opinion  most  violent,  raised  it;  dangerous 
it  was,  since  it  threatened  utter  ruin  to  her  most  important 
interests.  Here,  then,  was  a  Carolina  case.  How  did  Mas- 
sachusetts deal  with  it?  It  was,  as  she  thought,  a  plain, 
manifest,  palpable  violation  of  the  Constitution,  and  it 
brought  ruin  to  her  doors.  Thousands  of  families,  and 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  individuals  were  beggared  by 
it.  While  she  saw  and  felt  all  this,  she  saw  and  felt  also 
that,  as  a  measure  of  national  policy,  it  was  perfectly  futile; 
that  the  country  was  no  way  benefited  by  that  which  caused 
so  much  individual  distress;  that  it  was  efficient  only  for 
the  production  of  evil,  and  all  that  evil  inflicted  on  our- 
selves. In  such  a  case,  under  such  circumstances,  how  did 
Massachusetts  demean  herself?  Sir,  she  remonstrated,  she 
memorialized,  she  addressed  herself  to  the  general  govern- 
ment, not  exactly  '*with  the  concentrated  energy  of  pas- 
sion,'* but  with  her  own  strong  sense  and  the  energy  of 
sober  conviction.    But  she  did  not  interpose  the  arm  of  her 


THE   REPLY  TO  HAYNE 


249 


own  power  to  arrest  the  law  and  break  the  Embargo.  Far 
from  it.  Her  principles  bound  her  to  two  things;  and  she 
followed  her  principles,  lead  where  they  might.  First,  to 
submit  to  every  constitutional  law  of  Congress,  and,  sec- 
ondly, if  the  constitutional  validity  of  the  law  be  doubted, 
to  refer  that  question  to  the  decision  of  the  proper  tribunals. 
The  first  principle  is  vain  and  ineffectual  without  the  sec- 
ond. A  majority  of  us  in  New  England  believed  the  Em- 
bargo law  unconstitutional;  but  the  great  question  was, 
and  always  will  be,  in  such  cases:  Who  is  to  decide  this? 
Who  is  to  judge  between  the  people  and  the  government? 
And,  sir,  it  is  quite  plain  that  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  confers  on  the  government  itself,  to  be  ex- 
ercised by  its  appropriate  department,  and  under  its  own 
responsibility  to  the  people,  this  power  of  deciding  ulti- 
mately and  conclusively  upon  the  just  extent  of  its  own 
authority.  If  this  had  not  been  done,  we  should  not  have 
advanced  a  single  step  beyond  the  old  Confederation. 

Being  fully  of  opinion  that  the  Embargo  law  was  uncon- 
stitutional, the  people  of  New  England  were  yet  equally 
clear  in  the  opinion — it  was  a  matter  they  did  not  doubt 
upon — that  the  question,  after  all,  must  be  decided  by  the 
judicial  tribunals  of  the  United  States.  Before  those  tri- 
bunals, therefore,  they  brought  the  question.  Under  the 
provisions  of  the  law  they  had  given  bonds  to  millions  in 
amount,  and  which  were  alleged  to  be  forfeited.  They  suf- 
fered the  bonds  to  be  sued,  and  thus  raised  the  question. 
In  the  old-fashioned  way  of  settling  disputes,  they  went  to 
law.  The  case  came  to  hearing  and  solemn  argument;  and 
he  who  espoused  their  cause  and  stood  up  for  them  against 
the  validity  of  the  Embargo  Act  was  none  other  than  that 
great  man  of  whom  the  gentleman  has  made  honorable  men- 


250 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


tion,  Samuel  Dexter.  He  was  then,  sir,  in  the  fulness  of 
his  knowledge  and  the  maturity  of  his  strength.  He  had 
retired  from  long  and  distinguished  public  service  here,  to 
the  renewed  pursuit  of  professional  duties,  carrying  with 
him  all  that  enlargement  and  expansion,  all  the  new 
strength  and  force,  which  an  acquaintance  with  the  more 
general  subjects  discussed  in  the  national  councils  is  capable 
of  adding  to  professional  attainment  in  a  mind  of  true  great- 
ness and  comprehension.  He  was  a  lawyer  and  he  was  also 
a  statesman.  He  had  studied  the  Constitution,  when  he 
filled  public  station,  that  he  might  defend  it;  he  had  ex- 
amined its  principles  that  he  might  maintain  them.  More 
than  all  men,  or  at  least  as  much  as  any  man,  he  was  at- 
tached to  the  general  government  and  to  the  union  of  the 
States.  His  feelings  and  opinions  all  ran  in  that  direction. 
A  question  of  constitutional  law,  too,  was,  of  all  subjects, 
that  one  which  was  best  suited  to  his  talents  and  learning. 
Aloof  from  technicality,  and  unfettered  by  artificial  rule, 
such  a  question  gave  opportunity  for  that  deep  and  clear 
analysis,  that  mighty  grasp  of  principle,  which  so  much 
distinguished  his  higher  efforts.  His  very  statement  was 
argument;  his  inference  seemed  demonstration.  The  ear- 
nestness of  his  own  conviction  wrought  conviction  in  others. 
One  was  convinced,  and  believed,  and  assented,  because  it 
was  gratifying,  delightful,  to  think  and  feel  and  believe 
in  unison  with  an  intellect  of  such  evident  superiority. 

Mr.  Dexter,  sir,  such  as  I  have  described  him,  argued 
the  New  England  cause.  He  put  into  his  effort  his  whole 
heart,  as  well  as  all  the  powers  of  his  understanding;  for 
he  had  avowed,  in  the  most  public  manner,  his  entire  con- 
currence with  his  neighbors  on  the  point  in  dispute.  He 
argued  the  cause;  it  was  lost,  and  New  England  submitted. 


THE   REPLY  TO  HAYNE 


251 


The  established  tribunals  pronounced  the  law  constitutional, 
and  New  England  acquiesced.  Mow,  sir,  is  not  this  the  ex- 
act opposite  of  the  doctrine  of  the  gentleman  from  South 
Carolina?  According  to  him,  instead  of  referring  to  the 
judicial  tribunals,  we  should  have  broken  up  the  Embargo 
by  laws  of  our  own;  we  should  have  repealed  it  quoad  JNew 
England;  for  we  had  a  strong,  palpable,  and  oppressive  case. 
Sir,  we  believed  the  Embargo  unconstitutional;  but  still 
that  was  matter  of  opinion,  and  who  was  to  decide  it  ?  We 
ttiought  it  a  clear  case;  but,  nevertheless,  we  did  not  take 
the  law  into  our  own  hands  because  we  did  not  wish  to 
bring  about  a  revolution,  nor  to  break  up  the  Union;  for 
I  maintain  that,  between  submission  to  the  decision  of  the 
constituted  tribunals  and  revolution,  or  disunion,  there  is 
no  middle  ground — there  is  no  ambiguous  condition,  half 
allegiance  and  half  rebellion.  And,  sir,  how  futile,  how 
very  futile  it  is  to  admit  the  right  of  State  interference,  and 
then  attempt  to  save  it  from  the  character  of  unlawful  resist- 
ance by  adding  terms  of  qualification  to  the  causes  and  oc- 
casions, leaving  all  these  qualifications,  like  the  case  itself, 
in  the  discretion  of  the  State  governments.  It  must  be  a 
clear  case,  it  is  said,  a  deliberate  case;  a  palpable  case; 
a  dangerous  case.  But  then  the  State  is  still  left  at  liberty 
to  decide  for  herself  what  is  clear,  what  is  deliberate,  what 
is  palpable,  what  is  dangerous.  Do  adjectives  and  epithets 
avail  anything  ?  Sir,  the  human  mind  is  so  constituted  that 
the  merits  of  both  sides  of  a  controversy  appear  very  clear 
and  very  palpable  to  those  who  respectively  espouse  them; 
and  both  sides  usually  grow  clearer  as  the  controversy  ad- 
vances. South  Carolina  sees  unconstitutionality  in  the  tariff; 
she  sees  oppression  there  also;  and  she  sees  danger.  Penn- 
sylvania, with  a  vision  not  less  sharp,  looks  at  the  same 


252 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


tariff,  and  sees  no  such  thing  in  it — she  sees  it  all  constitu- 
tional, all  useful,  all  safe.  The  faith  of  South  Carolina  is 
strengthened  by  opposition,  and  she  now  not  only  sees,  but 
resolves,  that  the  tariff  is  palpably  unconstitutional,  oppres- 
sive, and  dangerous;  but  Pennsylvania,  not  to  be  behind 
her  neighbors,  and  equally  willing  to  strengthen  her  own 
faith  by  a  confident  asseveration,  resolves,  also,  and  gives 
to  every  warm  affirmative  of  South  Carolina  a  plain,  down- 
right Pennsylvania  negative.  South  Carolina,  to  show  the 
strength  and  unity  of  her  opinion,  brings  her  assembly  to 
a  unanimity  within  seven  voices;  Pennsylvania,  not  to  be 
outdone  in  this  respect  more  than  others,  reduces  her  dis- 
sentient fraction  to  a  single  vote.  Now,  sir,  again  1  ask  the 
gentleman  what  is  to  be  done?  Are  these  States  both 
right  ?  Is  he  bound  to  consider  them  both  right  ?  If  not, 
which  is  in  the  wrong  ?  or  rather,  which  has  the  best  right 
to  decide  ?  And  if  he  and  if  I  are  not  to  know  what  the 
Constitution  means  and  what  it  is  till  those  two  State  Legis- 
latures and  the  twenty-two  others  shall  agree  in  its  construc- 
tion, what  have  we  sworn  to  when  we  have  sworn  to  main- 
tain it?  I  was  forcibly  struck,  sir,  with  one  reflection  as 
the  gentleman  went  on  in  his  speech.  He  quoted  Mr.  Madi- 
son's resolutions,  to  prove  that  a  State  may  interfere,  in  a 
case  of  deliberate,  palpable,  and  dangerous  exercise  of  a 
power  not  granted.  The  honorable  member  supposes  the 
tariff  law  to  be  such  an  exercise  of  power;  and  that,  con- 
sequently, a  case  has  arisen  in  which  the  State  may,  if  it 
see  fit,  interfere  by  its  own  law.  Kow  it  so  happens,  never- 
theless, that  Mr.  Madison  deems  this  same  tariff  law  quite 
constitutional.  Instead  of  a  clear  and  palpable  violation, 
it  is,  in  his  judgment,  no  violation  at  all.  So  that,  while 
they  use  his  authority  for  a  hypothetical  case,  they  reject 


THE  REPLY  TO  HAYNE 


253 


it  in  the  very  case  before  them.  All  this,  sir,  shows  the 
inherent  futility — I  had  almost  used  a  stronger  word — of 
conceding  this  power  of  interference  to  the  States,  and  then 
attempting  to  secure  it  from  abuse  by  imposing  qualifica- 
tions, of  which  the  States  themselves  are  to  judge.  One  of 
two  things  is  true:  either  the  laws  of  the  Union  are  beyond 
the  discretion  and  beyond  the  control  of  the  States,  or  else 
we  have  no  Constitution  of  general  government,  and  are 
thrust  back  again  to  the  days  of  the  Confederacy, 

Let  me  here  say,  sir,  that  if  the  gentleman's  doctrine  had 
been  received  and  acted  upon  in  New  England,  in  the  times 
of  the  Embargo  and  Non-intercourse,  we  should  probably 
not  now  have  been  here.  The  government  would  very 
likely  have  gone  to  pieces,  and  crumbled  into  dust.  No 
stronger  case  can  ever  arise  than  existed  under  those  laws; 
no  States  can  ever  entertain  a  clearer  conviction  than  the 
New  England  States  then  entertained;  and  if  they  had  been 
under  the  influence  of  that  heresy  of  opinion,  as  I  must  call 
it,  which  the  honorable  member  espouses,  this  Union  would, 
in  all  probability,  have  been  scattered  to  the  four  winds.  I 
ask  the  gentleman,  therefore,  to  apply  his  principles  to  that 
case;  I  ask  him  to  come  forth  and  declare  whether,  in  his 
opinion,  the  New  England  States  would  have  been  justified 
in  interfering  to  break  up  the  Embargo  system  under  the 
conscientious  opinions  which  they  held  upon  it?  Had  they 
a  right  to  annul  that  law?  Does  he  admit,  or  deny?  If 
that  which  is  thought  palpably  unconstitutional  in  South 
Carolina  justifies  that  State  in  arresting  the  progress  of  the 
law,  tell  me  whether  that  which  was  thought  palpably  un- 
constitutional also  in  Massachusetts  would  have  justified  her 
in  doing  the  same  thing  ?  Sir,  I  deny  the  whole  doctrine. 
It  has  not  a  foot  of  ground  in  the  Constitution  to  stand  on. 


254 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


No  public  maa  cf  repatation  ever  advaoced  it  in  Massachu- 
setts, in  the  warmest  times,  or  could  maintaio  himself  upon 
it  there  at  any  time. 

I  wish  now,  sir,  to  make  a  remark  upon  the  Virginia 
Eesolutions  of  1798.  I  cannot  undertake  to  say  how  these 
resolutions  were  understood  by  those  who  passed  them. 
Their  language  is  not  a  little  indefinite.  In  the  case  of 
the  exercise  by  Congress  of  a  dangerous  power  not  granted 
to  them,  the  resolutions  assert  the  right,  on  the  part  of  the 
State,  to  interfere  and  arrest  the  progress  of  the  evil.  This 
is  susceptible  of  more  than  one  interpretation.  It  may  mean 
no  more  than  that  the  States  may  interfere  by  complaint  and 
remonstrance,  or  by  proposing  to  the  people  an  alteration  of 
the  Federal  Constitution.  This  would  all  be  quite  unob- 
jectionable; or,  it  may  be,  that  no  more  is  meant  than  to 
assert  the  general  right  of  revolution,  as  against  all  govern- 
ments, in  cases  of  intolerable  oppression.  This  no  one 
doubts;  and  this,  in  my  opinion,  is  all  that  he  who  framed 
the  resolutions  could  have  meant  by  it;  for  I  shall  not 
readily  believe  that  he  was  ever  of  opinion  that  a  State, 
under  the  Constitution,  and  in  conformity  with  it,  could, 
upon  the  ground  of  her  own  opinion  of  its  unconstitution- 
ality, however  clear  and  palpable  she  might  think  the  case, 
annul  a  law  of  Congress,  so  far  as  it  should  operate  on  her 
self,  by  her  own  legislative  power. 

I  must  now  beg  to  ask,  sir,  whence  is  this  supposed  right 
of  the  States  derived  ? — where  do  they  find  the  power  to  in- 
terfere with  the  laws  of  the  Union  ?  Sir,  the  opinion  which 
the  honorable  gentleman  maintains  is  a  notion,  founded  in  a 
total  misapprehension,  in  my  judgment,  of  the  origin  of  this 
government  and  of  the  foundation  on  which  it  stands.  I 
hold  it  to  be  a  popular  government,  erected  by  the  people; 


THE  REPLY  TO  HAYNE 


255 


those  who  administer  it,  responsible  to  the  people;  and  it- 
self capable  of  being  amended  and  modified,  just  as  the 
people  may  choose  it  should  be.  It  is  as  popular,  just  as 
truly  emanating  from  the  people,  as  the  State  governments. 
It  is  created  for  one  purpose;  the  State  governments  for  an- 
other. It  has  its  own  powers;  they  have  theirs.  There  is 
no  more  authority  with  them  to  arrest  the  operation  of  a  law 
of  Congress  than  with  Congress  to  arrest  the  operation  of 
their  laws.  We  are  here  to  administer  a  Constitution  ema- 
nating immediately  from  the  people,  and  trusted  by  them 
to  our  administration.  It  is  not  the  creature  of  the  State 
governments.  It  is  of  no  moment  to  the  argument,  that  cer- 
tain acts  of  the  State  Legislatures  are  necessary  to  fill  our 
seats  in  this  body.  That  is  not  one  of  their  original  State 
powers,  a  part  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  State.  It  is  a  duty 
which  the  people,  by  the  Constitution  itself,  have  imposed 
on  the  State  Legislatures,  and  which  they  might  have  left 
to  be  performed  elsewhere,  if  they  had  seen  fit.  So  they 
have  left  the  choice  of  President  with  electors;  but  all  this 
does  not  affect  the  proposition,  that  this  whole  government, 
President,  Senate  and  House  of  Eepresentatives,  is  a  popu- 
lar government.  It  leaves  it  still  all  its  popular  character. 
The  governor  of  a  State  (in  some  of  the  States)  is  chosen, 
not  directly  by  the  people,  but  by  those  who  are  chosen  by 
the  people,  for  the  purpose  of  performing,  among  other  du- 
ties, that  of  electing  a  governor.  Is  the  government  of  the 
State,  on  that  account,  not  a  popular  government?  This 
government,  sir,  is  the  independent  offspring  of  the  popu- 
lar will.  It  is  not  the  creature  of  State  Legislatures;  nay, 
more,  if  the  whole  truth  must  be  told,  the  people  brought  it 
into  existence,  established  it,  and  have  hitherto  supported 
it,  for  the  very  purpose,  among  others,  of  imposing  certaia 


256 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


salutary  restraints  on  State  sovereignties.  The  States  can- 
not now  make  war;  they  cannot  contract  alliances;  they 
cannot  make,  each  for  itself,  separate  regulations  of  com- 
merce; they  cannot  lay  imposts;  they  cannot  coin  money. 
If  this  Constitution,  sir,  be  the  creature  of  State  Legisla 
tures,  it  must  be  admitted  that  it  has  obtained  a  strange 
control  over  the  volitions  of  its  creators. 

The  people,  then,  sir,  erected  this  government.  They 
gave  it  a  Constitution,  and  in  that  Constitution  they  have 
enumerated  the  powers  which  they  bestow  on  it.  They 
have  made  it  a  limited  government.  They  have  defined 
its  authority.  They  have  restrained  it  to  the  exercise  of 
such  powers  as  are  granted;  and  all  others,  they  declare, 
are  reserved  to  the  States  or  the  people.  But,  sir,  they 
have  not  stopped  here.  If  they  had,  they  would  have  ac- 
complished but  half  their  work.  No  definition  can  be  so 
clear  as  to  avoid  possibility  of  doubt ;  no  limitation  so  pre- 
cise as.  to  exclude  all  uncertainty.  Who,  then,  shall  con- 
strue this  grant  of  the  people?  Who  shall  interpret  their 
will,  where  it  may  be  supposed  they  have  left  it  doubtful  ? 
With  whom  do  they  repose  this  ultimate  right  of  deciding 
on  the  powers  of  the  government?  Sir,  they  have  settled 
all  this  in  the  fullest  manner.  They  have  left  it  with  the 
government  itself,  in  its  appropriate  branches.  Sir,  the  very 
chief  end,  the  main  design,  for  which  the  whole  Constitution 
was  framed  and  adopted,  was  to  establish  a  government  that 
should  not  be  obliged  to  act  through  State  agency,  or  de- 
pend on  State  opinion  and  State  discretion.  The  people 
had  had  quite  enough  of  that  kind  of  government  under 
the  Confederacy.  Under  that  system  the  legal  action — the 
application  of  law  to  individuals — belonged  exclusively  to 
the  States.    Congress  could  only  recommend — their  acts 


THE   REPLY  TO  HAYxVE 


257 


were  not  of  binding  force  till  the  States  had  adopted  and 
sanctioned  them.  Are  we  in  that  condition  still  ?  Are  we 
yet  at  the  mercy  of  State  discretion  and  State  construction  ? 
Sir,  if  we  are,  then  vain  will  be  our  attempt  to  maintain  the 
Constitution  under  which  we  sit. 

But,  sir,  the  people  have  wisely  provided,  in  the  Consti- 
tution itself,  a  proper  suitable  mode  and  tribunal  for  settling 
questions  of  constitutional  law.  There  are,  in  the  Constitu- 
tion, grants  of  powers  to  Congress,  and  restrictions  on  these 
powers.  There  are  also  prohibitions  on  the  States.  Some 
authority  must  therefore  necessarily  exist,  having  the  ulti- 
mate jurisdiction  to  fix  and  ascertain  the  interpretation  of 
these  grants,  restrictions,  and  prohibitions.  The  Constitu- 
tion has  itself  pointed  out,  ordained,  and  established  that 
authority.  How  has  it  accomplished  this  great  and  essen- 
tial end?  By  declaring,  sir,  that  "the  Constitution  and  the 
laws  of  the  United  States,  made  in  pursuance  thereof,  shall 
be  the  supreme  law  of  the  land,  anything  in  the  Constitu- 
tion or  laws  of  any  State  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding." 

This,  sir,  was  the  first  great  step.  By  this  the  su- 
premacy of  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States 
is  declared.  The  people  so  will  it.  No  State  law  is  to  be 
valid,  which  comes  in  conflict  with  the  Constitution,  or  any 
law  of  the  United  States  passed  in  pursuance  of  it.  But 
who  shall  decide  this  question  of  interference  ?  To  whom 
lies  the  last  appeal?  This,  sir,  the  Constitution  itself  de- 
cides also  by  declaring  '*that  the  judicial  power  shall  ex- 
tend to  all  cases  arising  under  the  Constitution  and  laws 
of  the  United  States."  These  two  provisions,  sir,  cover 
the  whole  ground.  They  are,  in  truth,  the  keystone  of 
the  arch.  With  these  it  is  a  Constitution;  without  them 
it  is  a  Confederacy.    In  pursuance  of  these  clear  and  ex- 

Vol.  5-17 


258 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


press  provisions,  Congress  established  at  its  very  first  ses- 
sion in  the  judicial  act  a  mode  for  carrying  them  into  full 
elfect  and  for  bringing  all  questions  of  constitutional  power 
to  the  final  decision  of  the  JSupreme  Court.  It  then,  sir, 
became  a  government.  It  then  had  the  means  of  self-pro- 
tection; and  but  for  this  it  wouid,  in  all  probability,  have 
been  now  among  things  which  are  past.  Having  consti- 
tuted the  government,  and  declared  its  powers,  the  people 
have  further  said,  that  since  somebody  must  decide  on  the 
extent  of  these  powers,  the  government  shall  itself  decide; 
subject  always,  like  other  popular  governments,  to  its  re- 
sponsibility to  the  people.  And  now,  sir,  I  repeat,  how  is 
it  that  a  State  Legislature  acquires  any  power  to  interfere  ? 
Who,  or  what,  gives  them  the  right  to  say  to  the  people: 
*'We,  who  are  your  agents  and  servants  for  one  purpose, 
will  undertake  to  decide  that  your  other  agents  and  ser- 
vants, appointed  by  you  for  another  purpose,  have  tran- 
scended the  authority  you  gave  them!"  The  reply  would 
be,  I  think,  not  impertinent — "Who  made  you  a  judge 
over  another's  servants?  To  their  own  masters  they 
stand  or  fall." 

Sir,  I  deny  this  power  of  State  Legislatures  altogether. 
It  cannot  stand  the  test  of  examination.  Gentlemen  may 
say  that  in  an  extreme  case  a  State  government  might  pro- 
tect the  people  from  intolerable  oppression.  Sir,  in  such  a 
case,  the  people  might  protect  themselves  without  the  aid 
of  the  State  governments.  Such  a  case  warrants  revolution. 
It  must  make,  when  it  comes,  a  law  for  itselfo  A  nullify- 
ing act  of  a  State  Legislature  cannot  alter  the  case,  nor 
make  resistance  any  more  lawful.  In  maintaining  these 
sentiments,  sir,  I  am  but  asserting  the  rights  of  the  people. 
I  state  what  they  have  declared,  and  insist  on  their  right  to 


THE  REPLY  TO  HAYNE 


259 


declare  it.  They  have  chosen  to  repose  this  power  in  the 
general  government,  and  I  think  it  mj  duty  to  support  it, 
like  other  constitutional  powers. 

For  myself,  sir,  I  do  not  admit  the  jurisdiction  of  South 
Carolina,  or  any  other  State,  to  prescribe  my  constitutional 
duty;  or  to  settle,  between  me  and  the  people,  the  validity 
of  laws  of  Congress  for  which  I  have  voted.  I  decline  her 
umpirage.  I  have  not  sworn  to  support  the  Constitution  ac- 
cording to  her  construction  of  its  clauses.  I  have  not  stipu- 
lated by  my  oath  of  office,  or  otherwise,  to  come  under  any 
responsibility  except  to  the  people  and  those  whom  they 
have  appointed  to  pass  upon  the  question,  whether  laws, 
supported  by  my  votes,  conform  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
country.  And,  sir,  if  we  look  to  the  general  nature  of 
the  case,  could  anything  have  been  more  preposterous 
than  to  make  a  government  for  the  whole  Union,  and 
yet  leave  its  powers  subject,  not  to  one  interpretation,  but 
to  thirteen  or  twenty-four  interpretations?  Instead  of  one 
tribunal,  established  by  all,  responsible  to  all,  with  power  to 
decide  for  all,  shall  constitutional  questions  be  left  to  four- 
and-twenty  popular  bodies,  each  at  liberty  to  decide  for  it- 
self, and  none  bound  to  respect  the  decisions  of  others;  and 
each  at  liberty,  too,  to  give  a  new  construction  on  every  new 
election  of  its  own  members?  Would  anything  with  such  a 
principle  in  it,  or  rather  with  such  a  destitution  of  all  prin- 
ciple, be  fit  to  be  called  a  government  ?  No,  sir.  It  should 
not  be  denominated  a  Constitution.  It  should  be  called  rather 
a  collection  of  topics  for  everlasting  controversy ;  heads  of 
debate  for  a  disputatious  people.  It  would  not  be  a  govern- 
ment. It  would  not  be  adequate  to  any  practical  good,  nor 
fit  for  any  country  to  live  under.  To  avoid  all  possibility 
of  being  misunderstood,  allow  me  to  repeat  again  in  the 


260 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


fullest  manner  that  I  claim  no  powers  for  the  government 
bj  forced  or  unfair  construction.  I  admit  that  it  is  a  gov- 
ernment of  strictly  limited  powers;  of  enumerated,  speci- 
fied, and  particularized  powers;  and  that  whatsoever  is 
not  granted  is  withheld.  But  notwithstanding  all  this, 
and  however  the  grant  of  powers  may  be  expressed,  its 
limit  and  extent  may  yet,  in  some  cases,  admit  of  doubt; 
and  the  general  government  would  be  good  for  nothing,  it 
would  be  incapable  of  long  existing,  if  some  mode  had  not 
been  provided  in  which  those  doubts,  as  they  should  arise, 
might  be  peaceably  but  authoritatively  solved. 

And  now,  Mr.  President,  let  me  run  the  honorable  gen- 
tleman's doctrine  a  little  into  its  practical  application.  Let 
us  look  at  his  probable  modus  operandi.  If  a  thing  can  be 
done,  an  ingenious  man  can  tell  how  it  is  to  be  done.  N"ow 
1  wish  to  be  informed  how  this  State  interference  is  to  be 
put  in  practice  without  violence,  bloodshed,  and  rebellion. 
We  will  take  the  existing  case  of  the  tariff  law.  South 
Carolina  is  said  to  have  made  up  her  opinion  upon  it.  If 
we  do  not  repeal  it  (as  we  probably  shall  not),  she  will  then 
apply  to  the  case  the  remedy  of  her  doctrine.  She  will,  we 
must  suppose,  pass  a  law  of  her  Legislature  declaring  the 
several  acts  of  Congress,  usually  called  the  tariff  laws,  null 
and  void,  so  far  as  they  respect  South  Carolina  or  the  citi- 
zens thereof.  So  far  all  is  a  paper  transaction,  and  easy 
enough.  But  the  collector  at  Charleston  is  collecting  the 
duties  imposed  by  these  tariff  laws — he,  therefore,  must  be 
stopped.  The  collector  will  seize  the  goods  if  the  tariff 
duties  are  not  paid.  The  State  authorities  will  undertake 
their  rescue;  the  marshal  with  his  posse  will  come  to  the 
collector's  aid,  and  here  the  contest  begins.  The  militia 
of  the  State  will  be  called  out  to  sustain  the  nullifying 


THE   REPLY   TO  HAYNE 


act.  They  will  march,  sir,  under  a  very  gallant  leader, 
for  I  believe  the  honorable  member  himself  commands  tb^ 
militia  of  that  part  of  the  State.  He  will  raise  the  nullify- 
ing act  on  his  standard,  and  spread  it  out  as  his  banner! 
It  will  have  a  preamble  bearing:  ''That  the  tariff  laws  ara 
palpable,  deliberate,  and  dangerous  violations  of  the  Con- 
stitution!" He  will  proceed,  with  this  banner  flying,  to 
the  custom  house  in  Charleston: 

All  the  while 
Sonorous  metal  blowing  martial  sounds." 

Arrived  at  the  custom  house,  he  will  tell  the  collector 
that  he  must  collect  no  more  duties  under  any  of  the  tariff 
laws.  This  he  will  be  somewhat  puzzled  to  say,  by  the 
way,  with  a  grave  countenance,  considering  what  hand 
South  Carolina  herself  had  in  that  of  1816.  But,  sir,  the 
collector  would  probably  not  desist  at  his  bidding.  He 
would  show  him  the  law  of  Congress,  the  Treasury  in- 
struction, and  his  own  oath  of  office.  He  would  say  he 
should  perform  his  duty,  come  what  might.  Here  would 
ensue  a  pause:  for  they  say  that  a  certain  stillness  pre- 
cedes the  tempest.  The  trumpeter  would  hold  his  breath 
a  while,  and  before  all  this  military  array  should  fall  on  the 
custom  house,  collector,  clerks  and  all,  it  is  very  probable 
some  of  those  composing  it  would  request  of  their  gallant 
commander-in-chief  to  be  informed  a  little  upon  the  point 
of  law;  for  they  have  doubtless  a  just  respect  for  his  opin- 
ions as  a  lawyer,  as  well  as  for  his  bravery  as  a  soldier. 
They  know  he  has  read  Blackstone  and  the  Constitution, 
as  well  as  Turenne  and  Vauban.  They  would  ask  him, 
therefore,  something  concerning  their  rights  in  this  mat- 
ter. They  would  inquire  whether  it  was  not  somewhat 
dangerous  to  resist  a  law  of  the  CJnited  States.  What 


262  DANIEL  WEBSTER 


would  be  the  nature  of  their  offence,  they  would  wish  to 
learn,  if  they  by  military  force  and  array  resisted  the  exe- 
cution in  Carolina  of  a  law  of  the  United  States,  and  it 
should  turn  out,  after  all,  that  the  law  was  constitutional? 
He  would  answer,  of  course,  treason.  No  lawyer  could 
give  any  other  answer.  Jolin  l^'ries,  he  would  tell  them, 
had  learned  that  some  years  ago.  How,  then,  they  would 
ask,  do  you  propose  to  defend  us  ?  We  are  not  afraid  of 
bullets,  but  treason  has  a  way  of  taking  people  off  that  we 
do  not  much  relish.  How  do  you  propose  to  defend  us  ? 
*'Look  at  my  floating  banner,"  he  would  reply;  "see  there 
the  nullifying  law!"  Is  it  your  opinion,  gallant  com- 
mander, they  would  then  say,  that  if  we  should  be  in- 
dicted for  treason,  that  same  floating  banner  of  yours 
would  make  a  good  plea  in  bar?  "South  Carolina  is  a 
sovereign  State,"  he  would  reply.  That  is  true — but 
would  the  judge  admit  our  plea?  "These  tariff  laws," 
he  would  repeat,  "are  unconstitutional,  palpably,  delib- 
erately, dangerously."  That  all  may  be  so;  but  if  the 
tribunal  should  not  happen  to  be  of  that  opinion,  shall  we 
swing  for  it?  We  are  ready  to  die  for  our  country,  but  it 
is  rather  an  awkward  business,  this  dying  without  touching 
the  ground!  After  all,  that  is  a  sort  of  hemp  tax  worse 
than  any  part  of  the  tariff. 

Mr.  President,  the  honorable  gentleman  would  be  in  a 
dilemma  like  that  of  another  great  general.  He  would 
have  a  knot  before  him  which  he  could  not  untie.  He 
must  cut  it  with  his  sword.  He  must  say  to  his  followers, 
Defend  yourselves  with  your  bayonets;  and  this  is  war — 
civil  war. 

Direct  collision,  therefore,  between  force  and  force  is 
the  unavoidable  result  of  that  remedy  for  the  revision  of 


THE  REPLY  TO  HAYNE 


263 


unconstitutional  laws  which  the  gentleman  contends  for. 
It  must  happen  in  the  very  first  case  to  which  it  is  ap- 
plied. Is  not  this  the  plain  result?  To  resist,  by  force, 
the  execution  of  a  law  generally  is  treason.  Can  the 
courts  of  the  United  States  take  notice  of  the' indulgence 
of  a  State  to  commit  treason  ?  The  common  saying  that  a 
State  cannot  commit  treason  herself  is  nothing  to  the  pur- 
pose. Can  she  authorize  others  to  do  it?  If  John  Fries 
had  produced  an  act  of  Pennsylvania  annulling  the  law  of 
Congress,  would  it  have  helped  his  case?  Talk  about  it 
as  we  will,  these  doctrines  go  the  length  of  revolution. 
They  are  incompatible  with  any  peaceable  administration 
of  the  government.  They  lead  directly  to  disunion  and 
civil  commotion;  and,  therefore,  it  is,  that  at  their  com- 
mencement, when  they  are  first  found  to  be  maintained 
by  respectable  men,  and  in  a  tangible  form,  I  enter  my 
public  protest  against  them  all. 

The  honorable  gentleman  argues  that  if  this  government 
be  the  sole  judge  of  the  extent  of  its  own  powers,  whether 
that  right  of  judging  be  in  Congress,  or  the  Supreme  Court, 
it  equally  subverts  State  sovereignty.  This  the  gentleman 
sees,  or  thinks  he  sees,  although  he  cannot  perceive  how 
the  right  of  judging,  in  this  matter,  if  left  to  the  exercise 
of  State  Legislatures,  has  any  tendency  to  subvert  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Union.  The  gentleman's  opinion  may  be, 
that  the  right  ought  not  to  have  been  lodged  with  the  gen- 
eral government;  he  may  like  better  such  a  Constitution 
as  we  should  have  under  the  right  of  State  interference; 
but  I  ask  him  to  meet  me  on  the  plain  matter  of  fact;  I 
ask  him  to  meet  me  on  the  Constitution  itself;  I  ask  him 
if  the  power  is  not  found  there — clearly  and  visibly  found 
there. 


264 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


But,  sir,  what  is  this  danger,  and  what  the  grounds  of 
it!  Let  it  be  remembered  that  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  is  not  unalterable.  It  is  to  continue  in  its 
present  form  no  longer  than  the  people  who  established  it 
shall  choose  to  continue  it.  If  they  shall  become  convinced 
that  they  have  made  an  injudicious  or  inexpedient  partition 
and  distribution  of  power,  between  the  State  governments 
and  the  general  government,  they  can  alter  that  distribu- 
tion at  will. 

If  anything  be  found  in  the  national  Constitution,  either 
by  original  provision,  or  subsequent  interpretation,  which 
ought  not  to  be  in  it,  the  people  know  how  to  get  rid  of  it. 
If  any  construction  be  established,  unacceptable  to  them,  so 
as  to  become,  practically,  a  part  of  the  Constitution,  they 
will  amend  it,  at  their  own  sovereign  pleasure;  but  while 
the  people  choose  to  maintain  it,  as  it  is;  while  they  are 
satisfied  with  it,  and  refuse  to  change  it,  who  has  given,  or 
who  can  give,  to  the  State  Legislatures  a  right  to  alter  it, 
either  by  interference,  construction,  or  otherwise?  Gentle- 
men do  not  seem  to  recollect  that  the  people  have  any 
power  to  do  anything  for  themselves;  they  imagine  there 
is  no  safety  for  them  any  longer  than  they  are  under  the 
close  guardianship  of  the  State  Legislatures.  Sir,  the  peo- 
ple have  not  trusted  their  safety,  in  regard  to  the  general 
Constitution,  to  these  hands.  They  have  required  other 
security,  and  taken  other  bonds.  They  have  chosen  to 
trust  themselves,  first,  to  the  plain  words  of  the  instru- 
ment, and  to  such  construction  as  the  government  itself, 
in  doubtful  cases,  should  put  on  its  own  powers,  under 
their  oaths  of  office,  and  subject  to  their  responsibility  to 
them,  just  as  the  people  of  a  State  trust  their  own  State 
governments  with  a  similar  power.    Secondly,  they  havo 


V 


THE   REPLY  TO  HAYNE 


265 


reposed  their  trust  in  the  efficacy  of  frequent  elections,  and 
in  their  own  power  to  remove  their  own  servants  and 
agents,  whenever  they  see  cause.  Thirdly,  they  have  re- 
posed trust  in  the  judicial  power,  which,  in  order  that  it 
might  be  trustworthy,  they  have  made  as  respectable, 
as  disinterested,  and  as  independent  as  was  practicable. 
Fourthly,  they  have  seen  fit  to  rely,  in  case  of  necessity, 
or  high  expediency,  on  their  known  and  admitted  power, 
to  alter  or  amend  the  Constitution,  peaceably  and  quietly, 
whenever  experience  shall  point  out  defects  or  imperfec- 
tions. And,  finally,  the  people  of  the  United  States  have, 
at  no  time,  in  no  way,  directly  or  indirectly,  authorized 
any  State  Legislature  to  construe  or  interpret  their  high 
instrument  of  government;  much  less  to  interfere,  by  their 
own  power,  to  arrest  its  course  and  operation. 

If,  sir,  the  people,  in  these  respects,  had  done  otherwise 
than  they  have  done,  their  Constitution  could  neither  have 
been  preserved,  nor  would  it  have  been  worth  preserving. 
And,  if  its  plain  provisions  shall  now  be  disregarded,  and 
these  new  doctrines  interpolated  in  it,  it  will  become  as 
feeble  and  helpless  a  being  as  its  enemies,  whether  early  or 
more  recent,  could  possibly  desire.  It  will  exist  in  every 
State,  but  as  a  poor  dependent  on  State  permission.  It 
must  borrow  leave  to  be  and  it  will  be  no  longer  than 
State  pleasure  or  State  discretion  sees  fit  to  grant  the  in- 
dulgence and  to  prolong  its  poor  existence. 

But,  sir,  although  there  are  fears,  there  are  hopes  also. 
The  people  have  preserved  this,  their  own  chosen  Constitu- 
tion, for  forty  years  and  have  seen  their  happiness,  pros- 
perity and  renown  grow  with  its  growth,  and  strengthen 
with  its  strength.  They  are  now,  generally,  strongly  at- 
tached to  it.    Overthrown  by  direct  assault,  it  cannot  be; 


266 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


evaded,  undermined,  nullified,  it  will  not  be,  if  we,  and 
those  who  shall  succeed  us  here,  as  agents  and  representa- 
tives of  the  people,  shall  conscientiously  and  vigilantly 
discharge  the  two  great  branches  of  cur  public  trust — faith- 
fully to  preserve  and  wisely  to  administer  it. 

Mr.  President,  I  have  thus  stated  the  reasons  of  my  dis- 
sent to  the  doctrines  which  have  been  advanced  and  main- 
tained. I  am  conscious  of  having  detained  you  and  the 
Senate  much  too  long.  I  was  drawn  into  the  debate  with 
no  previous  deliberation  such  as  is  suited  to  the  discussion 
of  so  grave  and  important  a  subject.  But  it  is  a  subject  of 
which  my  heart  is  full,  and  I  have  not  been  willing  to  sup- 
press the  utterance  of  its  spontaneous  sentiments.  I  cannot, 
even  now,  persuade  myself  to  relinquish  it  without  express- 
ing once  more,  my  deep  conviction,  that  since  it  respects 
nothing  less  than  the  Union  of  the  States,  it  is  of  most 
vital  and  essential  importance  to  the  public  happiness.  I 
profess,  sir,  in  my  career,  hitherto,  to  have  kept  steadily 
in  view  the  prosperity  and  honor  of  the  whole  country,  and 
the  preservation  of  our  Federal  Union.  It  is  to  that  Union 
we  owe  our  safety  at  home  and  our  consideration  and  dig- 
nity abroad  o  It  is  to  that  Union  that  we  are  chiefly  in- 
debted for  whatever  makes  us  most  proud  of  our  country. 
That  Union  we  reached  only  by  the  discipline  of  our  vir- 
tues in  the  severe  school  of  adversity.  It  had  its  origin  in 
the  necessities  of  disordered  finance,  prostrate  commerce  and 
ruined  credits  Under  its  benign  influence,  these  great  in- 
terests immediately  awoke  as  from  the  dead  and  sprang 
forth  with  newness  of  life.  Every  year  of  its  duration  has 
teemed  with  fresh  proofs  of  its  utility  and  its  blessings; 
and,  although  our  territory  has  stretched  out  wider  and 
wider,  and  our  population  spread  further  and  further,  they 


THE  REPLY  TO  HAYNE 


267 


have  not  outrun  its  protection  or  its  benefits.  It  has  been 
to  us  all  a  copious  fountain  of  national,  social  and  personal 
happiness.  I  have  not  allowed  myself,  sir,  to  look  beyond 
the  Union  to  see  what  might  lie  hidden  in  the  dark  recess 
behind.  I  have  not  coolly  weighed  the  chances  of  preserv- 
ing liberty  when  the  bonds  that  unite  us  together  shall  be 
broken  asunder.  I  have  not  accustomed  myself  to  hang 
over  the  precipice  of  disunion  to  see  whether,  with  my 
short  sight,  I  can  fathom  the  depth  of  the  abyss  below; 
nor  could  I  regard  him  as  a  safe  counsellor  in  the  affairs  of 
this  government,  whose  thoughts  should  be  mainly  bent  on 
considering  not  how  the  Union  should  be  best  preserved, 
but  how  tolerable  might  be  the  condition  of  the  people 
when  it  shall  be  broken  up  and  destroyed.  While  the 
Union  lasts  we  have  high,  exciting,  gratifying  prospects 
spread  out  before  us,  for  us  and  our  children.  Beyond 
that  I  seek  not  to  penetrate  the  veil.  God  grant  that  in 
my  day,  at  least,  that  curtain  may  not  rise.  God  grant 
that,  on  my  vision,  never  may  be  opened  what  lies  behind. 
When  my  eyes  shall  be  turned  to  behold,  for  the  last  time, 
the  sun  in  heaven,  may  I  not  see  him  shining  on  the  broken 
and  dishonored  fragments  of  a  once  glorious  Union;  on 
States  dissevered,  discordant,  belligerent;  on  a  land  rent 
with  civil  feuds,  or  drenched,  it  may  be,  in  fraternal  blood! 
Let  their  last  feeble  and  lingering  glance  rather  behold  the 
gorgeous  ensign  of  the  Eepublic,  now  known  and  honored 
throughout  the  earth,  still  full  high  advanced,  its  arms  and 
trophies  streaming  in  their  original  lustre,  not  a  stripe 
erased  or  polluted,  nor  a  single  star  obscured,  bearing  for 
its  motto  no  such  miserable  interrogatory  as,  '*What  is  all 
this  worth?"  nor  those  other  words  of  delusion  and  folly, 
**Liberty  first  and   union  afterward";  but  everywhere, 


268 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


spread  all  over  in  characters  of  living  light,  blazing  on  all 
its  ample  folds,  as  they  float  over  the  sea  and  over  the  land, 
and  in  every  wind  under  the  whole  heavens,  that  other 
sentiment,  dear  to  every  true  American  heart — Liberty  and 
Union,  now  and  forever  one  and  inseparable! 


BUNKER  HILL  MONUMENT  ORATION 

DELIVERED  ON  THE  SEVENTEENTH  OF  JUNE,  1825 

THIS  uncounted  multitude  before  me,  and  around  me, 
proves  the  feeling  which  the  occasion  has  excited. 
These  thousands  of  human  faces,  glowing  with  sym- 
pathy and  joy,  and,  from  the  impulses  of  a  common  grati- 
tude, turned  reverently  to  heaven,  in  this  spacious  temple 
of  the  firmament,  proclaim  that  the  day,  the  place,  and  the 
purpose  of  our  assembling  have  made  a  deep  impression  on 
our  hearts. 

If,  indeed,  there  be  anything  in  local  association  fit  to 
afl'ect  the  mind  of  man,  we  need  not  strive  to  repress  the 
emotions  which  agitate  us  here.  We  are  among  the  sepul- 
chres of  our  fathers.  We  are  on  ground  distinguished  by 
their  valor,  their  constancy,  and  the  shedding  of  their 
blood.  We  are  here,  not  to  fix  an  uncertain  date  in  our 
annals,  nor  to  draw  into  notice  an  obscure  and  unknown 
spot.  If  our  humble  purpose  had  never  been  conceived,  if 
we  ourselves  had  never  been  born,  the  seventeenth  of  June, 
1775,  would  have  been  a  day  on  which  all  subsequent  his- 
tory would  have  poured  its  light,  and  the  eminence  where 
we  stand,  a  point  of  attraction  to  the  eyes  of  successive 
generations.  But  we  are  Americans.  We  live  in  what 
may  be  called  the  early  age  of  this  great  continent;  and 


BUNKER  HILL  MONUMENT 


209 


we  know  that  our  posterity,  through  all  time,  are  here  to 
suffer  and  enjoy  the  allotments  of  humanity.  We  see  be- 
fore us  a  probable  train  of  great  events;  we  know  that  our 
own  fortunes  have  been  happily *cast;  and  it  is  natural, 
therefore,  that  we  should  be  moved  by  the  contemplation 
of  occurrences  which  have  guided  our  destiny  before  many 
of  us  were  born,  and  settled  the  condition  in  which  we 
should  pass  that  portion  of  our  existence  which  God  allows 
to  men  on  earth. 

We  do  not  read  even  of  the  discovery  of  this  continent 
without  feeling  something  of  a  personal  interest  in  the 
event;  without  being  reminded  how  much  it  has  affected 
our  own  fortunes  and  our  own  existence.  It  is  more  im- 
possible for  "US,  therefore,  than  for  others,  to  contemplate 
with  unaffected  minds  that  interesting,  I  may  say,  that 
most  touching  and  pathetic  scene,  when  the  great  discov- 
erer of  America  stood  on  the  deck  of  his  shattered  bark, 
the  shades  of  night  falling  on  the  sea,  yet  no  man  sleeping; 
tossed  on  the  billows  of  an  unknown  ocean,  yet  the  stronger 
billows  of  alternate  hope  and  despair  tossing  his  own 
troubled  thoughts;  extending  forward  his  harassed  frame, 
straining  westward  his  anxious  and  eager  eyes,  till  Heaven 
at  last  granted  him  a  moment  of  rapture  and  ecstasy,  in 
blessing  his  vision  with  the  sight  of  the  unknown  world. 

Nearer  to  our  times,  more  closely  connected  with  our 
fates,  and  therefore  still  more  interesting  to  our  feelings 
and  affections,  is  the  settlement  of  our  own  country  by 
colonists  from  England.  We  cherish  every  memorial  of 
these  worthy  ancestors;  we  celebrate  their  patience  and 
fortitude;  we  admire  their  daring  enterprise;  we  teach  oar 
children  to  venerate  their  piety;  and  we  arc  justly  proud 
of  being  descended  from  men  who  have  set  the  world  an 


270 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


example  of  founding  civil  institutions  on  the  great  and 
united  principles  of  human  freedom  and  human  knowl- 
edge. To  us,  their  children,  the  story  of  their  labors  and 
sufferings  can  never  be  without  its  interest.  We  shall  not 
stand  unmoved  on  the  shore  of  Plymouth,  while  the  sea 
continues  to  wash  it;  nor  will  our  brethren,  in  another 
early  and  ancient  colony,  forget  the  place  of  its  first  estab- 
lishment, till  their  river  shall  cease  to  flow  by  it.  No  vigor 
of  youth,  no  maturity  of  manhood,  will  lead  the  nation  to 
forget  the  spots  where  its  infancy  was  cradled  and  defended. 

But  the  great  event,  in  the  history  of  the  continent, 
which  we  are  now  met  here  to  commemorate;  that  prodigy 
of  modern  times,  at  once  the  wonder  and  the  blessing  of  the 
world,  is  the  American  Kevolution.  In  a  day  of  extraordi- 
nary prosperity  and  happiness,  of  high  national  honor,  dis- 
tinction, and  power,  we  are  brought  together,  in  this  place, 
by  our  love  of  country,  by  our  admiration  of  exalted  char- 
acter, by  our  gratitude  for  signal  services  and  patriotic 
devotion. 

The  society,  whose  organ  I  am,  was  formed  for  the  pur- 
pose of  rearing  some  honorable  and  durable  monument  to 
the  memory  of  the  early  friends  of  American  Independence. 
They  have  thought  that  for  this  object  no  time  could  be 
more  propitious  than  the  present  prosperous  and  peaceful 
period;  that  no  place  could  claim  preference  over  this  mem- 
orable spot;  and  that  no  day  could  be  more  auspicious  to 
the  undertaking  than  the  anniversary  of  the  battle  which 
was  here  fought.  The  foundation  of  that  monument  we 
have  now  laid.  With  solemnities  suited  to  the  occasiorfci, 
with  prayers  to  Almighty  God  for  his  blessing,  and  in  the 
midst  of  this  cloud  of  witnesses,  we  have  begun  the  work. 
We  trust  it  will  be  prosecuted,  and  that  springing  from  a 


BUNKER  HILL  MONUMENT 


271 


broad  foundation  rising  high  in  massive  solidity  and  un- 
adorned grandeur  it  may  remain  as  long  as  Heaven  permits 
the  works  of  man  to  last,  a  fit  emblem,  both  of  the  events 
in  memory  of  which  it  is  raised  and  of  the  gratitude  of  those 
who  have  reared  it. 

We  know,  indeed,  that  the  record  of  illustrious  actions 
is  most  safely  deposited  in  the  universal  remembrance  of 
mankind.  We  know  that  if  we  could  cause  this  structure 
to  ascend,  not  only  till  it  reached  the  skies,  but  till  it  pierced 
them,  its  broad  surfaces  could  still  contain  but  part  of  that 
which,  in  an  age  of  knowledge,  hath  already  been  spread 
over  the  earth,  and  which  history  charges  itself  with  making 
known  to  all  future  times.  We  know  that  no  inscription  on 
entablatures  less  broad  than  the  earth  itself  can  carry  informa- 
tion of  the  events  we  commemorate  where  it  has  not  already 
gone;  and  that  no  structure  which  shall  not  outlive  the  du- 
ration of  letters  and  knowledge  among  men,  can  prolong  the 
memorial.  But  our  object  is  by  this  edifice  to  show  our 
own  deep  sense  of  the  value  and  importance  of  the  achieve- 
ments of  our  ancestors;  and  by  presenting  this  work  of  grat- 
itude to  the  eye  to  keep  alive  similar  sentiments  and  to  fos- 
ter a  constant  regard  for  the  principles  of  the  Eevolution. 
Human  beings  are  composed  not  of  reason  only,  but  of  im- 
agination also,  and  sentiment;  and  that  is  neither  wasted  nor 
misapplied  which  is  appropriated  to  the  purpose  of  giving 
right  direction  to  sentiments  and  opening  proper  springs  of 
feeling  in  the  heart.  Let  it  not  be  supposed  that  our  object 
is  to  perpetuate  national  hostility,  or  even  to  cherish  a  mere 
military  spirit.  It  is  higher,  purer,  nobler.  We  consecrate 
our  work  to  the  spirit  of  national  independence,  and  we 
wish  that  the  light  of  peace  may  rest  upon  it  forever.  We 
rear  a  memorial  of  our  conviction  of  that  unmeasured  bcn<- 


272 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


efit  which  has  been  conferred  on  our  own  land,  and  of  the 
happy  influences  which  have  been  produced  by  the  same 
events  on  the  general  interests  of  mankind.  We  come  as 
Americans  to  mark  a  spot  which  must  forever  be  dear  to 
us  and  our  posterity.  We  wish  that  whosoever,  in  all  com- 
ing time,  shall  turn  his  eye  hither,  may  behold  that  the 
place  is  not  undistinguished  where  the  first  great  battle  of 
the  Kevolution  was  fought.  We  wish  that  this  structure 
may  proclaim  the  magnitude  and  importance  of  that  event 
to  every  class  and  every  age.  We  wish  that  infancy  may 
learn  the  purpose  of  its  erection  from  maternal  lips  and  that 
weary  and  withered  age  may  behold  it  and  be  solaced  by  the 
recollections  which  it  suggests.  We  wish  that  labor  may 
look  up  here  and  be  proud  in  the  midst  of  its  toil.  We 
wish  that  in  those  days  of  disaster  which,  as  they  come  on 
all  nations,  must  be  expected  to  come  on  us  also,  despond- 
ing patriotism  may  turn  its  eyes  hitherward  and  be  assured 
that  the  foundations  of  our  national  power  still  stand  strong. 
We  wish  that  this  column  rising  toward  heaven  among  the 
pointed  spires  of  so  many  temples  dedicated  to  God  may 
contribute  also  to  produce  in  all  minds  a  pious  feeling  of 
dependence  and  gratitude.  We  wish,  finally,  that  the  last 
object  on  the  sight  of  him  who  leaves  his  native  shore,  and 
the  first  to  gladden  his  who  revisits  it,  may  be  something 
which  shall  remind  him  of  the  liberty  and  the  glory  of  his 
country.  Let  it  rise  till  it  meet  the  sun  in  his  coming;  let 
the  earlier  light  of  the  morning  gild  it,  and  parting  day 
linger  and  play  on  its  summit. 

We  live  in  a  most  extraordinary  age.  Events  so  vari- 
ous and  so  important  that  they  might  crowd  and  distinguish 
centuries  are  in  our  times  compressed  within  the  compass 
of  a  single  life.    When  has  it  happened  that  history  has 


BUNKER   HILL  MONUMENT 


273 


had  so  much  to  record  in  the  same  term  of  years  as  since 
the  seventeenth  of  June,  1775  ?  Our  own  Kevolution,  which 
under  other  circumstances  might  itself  have  been  expected 
to  occasion  a  war  of  half  a  century,  has  been  achieved; 
twenty-four  sovereign  and  independent  States  erected;  and 
a  general  government  established  over  them,  so  safe,  so 
wise,  so  free,  so  practical,  that  we  might  well  wonder  its 
establishment  should  have  been  accomplished  so  soon  were 
it  not  for  the  greater  wonder  that  it  should  have  been  es- 
tablished at  all.  Two  or  three  millions  8f  people  have  been 
augmented  to  twelve;  and  the  great  forests  of  the  West 
prostrated  beneath  the  arm  of  successful  industry;  and  the 
dwellers  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio  and  the  Mississippi  be- 
come the  fellow-citizens  and  neighbors  of  tliose  who  culti- 
vate the  hills  of  New  England.  We  have  a  commerce  that 
leaves  no  sea  unexplored;  navies  which  take  no  law  from 
superior  force;  revenues  adequate  to  all  the  exigencies  of 
government,  almost  without  taxation;  and  peace  with  all 
nations,  founded  on  equal  rights  and  mutual  respect. 

Europe,  within  the  same  period,  has  been  agitated  by  a 
mighty  revolution,  which,  while  it  has  been  felt  in  the  indi- 
vidual condition  and  happiness  of  almost  every  man,  has 
shaken  to  the  centre  her  political  fabric,  and  dashed  against 
one  another  thrones  which  had  stood  tranquil  for  ages.  On 
this,  our  continent,  our  own  example  has  been  followed; 
and  colonies  have  sprung  up  to  be  nations.  Unaccustomed 
sounds  of  liberty  and  free  government  have  reached  us 
from  beyond  the  track  of  the  sun;  and  at  this  moment 
the  dominion  of  European  power  in  this  continent,  from 
the  place  where  we  stand  to  the  South  Pole,  is  annihilated 
forever. 

In  the  meantime,  both  in  Europe  and  America,  such  has 

Vol.  5— iS 


274 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


been  the  general  progress  of  knowledge;  such  the  improve- 
ments in  legislation,  in  commerce,  in  the  arts,  in  letters, 
and,  above  all,  in  liberal  ideas  and  the  general  spirit  of  the 
age,  that  the  whole  world  seems  changed. 

Yet,  notwithstanding  that  this  is  but  a  faint  abstract  of 
the  things  which  have  happened  since  the  day  of  the  battle 
of  Bunker  Hill,  we  are  but  fifty  years  removed  from  it;  and 
we  now  stand  here  to  enjoy  all  the  blessings  of  our  own  con- 
dition, and  to  look  abroad  on  the  brightened  prospects  of  the 
world,  while  we  hold  still  among  us  some  of  those  who  were 
active  agents  in  the  scenes  of  1775,  and  who  are  now  here 
from  every  quarter  of  New  England  to  visit  once  more, 
and  under  circumstances  so  affecting,  I  had  almost  said  so 
overwhelming,  this  renowned  theatre  of  their  courage  and 
patriotism. 

Venerable  men,  you  have  come  down  to  us  from  a  former 
generation.  Heaven  has  bounteously  lengthened  out  your 
lives  that  you  might  behold  this  joyous  day.  You  are  now 
where  you  stood  fifty  years  ago  this  very  hour,  with  your 
brothers  and  your  neighbors,  shoulder  to  shoulder,  in  the 
strife  for  your  country.  Behold,  how  altered  I  The  same 
heavens  are,  indeed,  over  your  heads;  the  same  ocean  rolls 
at  your  feet;  but  all  else,  how  changed!  You  hear  now  no 
roar  of  hostile  cannon,  you  see  no  mixed  volumes  of  smoke 
and  flame  rising  from  burning  Charlestown.  The  ground 
strewed  with  the  dead  and  the  dying;  the  impetuous  charge; 
the  steady  and  successful  repulse;  the  loud  call  to  repeated 
assault;  the  summoning  of  all  that  is  manly  to  repeated  re- 
sistance; a  thousand  bosoms  freely  and  fearlessly  bared  in 
an  instant  to  whatever  of  terror  there  may  be  in  war  and 
death;  all  these  you  have  witnessed,  but  you  witness  them 
no  more.    All  is  peace.    The  heights  of  yonder  metropolis, 


BUNKER  HILL  MONUMENT 


275 


its  towers  and  roofs  which  you  then  saw  filled  with  wives 
and  children  and  countrymen  in  distress  and  terror,  and 
looJiing  with  unutterable  emotions  for  the  issue  of  the  com- 
bat, have  presented  you  to-day  with  the  sight  of  its  whole 
happy  population  come  out  to  welcome  and  greet  you  with  * 
a  universal  jubilee.  Yonder  proud  ships  by  a  felicity  of 
position  appropriately  lying  at  the  foot  of  this  mount,  and 
seeming  fondly  to  cling  around  it,  are  not  means  of  annoy- 
ance to  you,  but  your  country's  own  means  of  distinction 
and  defence.  All  is  peace;  and  God  has  granted  you  this 
sight  of  your  country's  happiness  ere  you  slumber  in  the 
grave  forever.  He  has  allowed  you  to  behold  and  to  par- 
take the  reward  of  your  patriotic  toils;  and  he  has  allowed 
us,  your  sons  and  countrymen,  to  meet  you  here,  and  in  the 
name  of  the  present  generation,  in  the  name  of  your  coun- 
try, in  the  "name  of  liberty,  to  thank  you! 

But,  alas!  you  are  not  all  here!  Time  and  the  sword 
have  thinned  your  ranks.  Prescott,  Putnam,  Stark,  Brooks, 
Read,  Pomeroy,  Bridge!  our  eyes  seek  for  you  in  vain  amid 
this  broken  band.  You  are  gathered  to  your  fathers,  and 
live  only  to  your  country  in  her  grateful  remembrance  and 
your  own  bright  example.  But  let  us  not  too  much  grieve 
that  you  have  met  the  common  fate  of  men.  You  lived  at 
least  long  enough  to  know  that  your  work  had  been  nobly 
and  successfully  accomplished.  You  lived  to  see  your  coun- 
try's independence  established  and  to  sheathe  your  swords 
from  war.  On  the  light  of  Liberty  you  saw  arise  the  light 
of  Peace,  like 

"Another  mom, 
Risen  on  mid-noon," 

and  the  sky  on  which  you  closed  your  eyes  was  cloudless. 
But — ah! — Him  I  the  first  great  martyr  in  this  great 


276 


DAmEL  WEBSTER 


caase!  Himli  the  premature  victim  of  his  own  self -devot- 
ing heart!  Him!  the  head  of  our  civil  councils  and  the  des- 
tined leader  of  our  military  bands,  whom  nothing  brought 
hither  but  the  unquenchable  fire  of  his  own  spirit;  him  I 
cut  off  by  Providence  in  the  hour  of  overwhelming  anxiety 
and  thick  gloom ;  falling  ere  he  saw  the  star  of  his  country 
rise;  pouring  out  his  generous  blood  like  water  before  he 
knew  whether  it  would  fertilize  a  land  of  freedom  or  of 
bondage!  how  shall  1  struggle  with  the  emotions  that  stifle 
the  utterance  of  thy  name!  Our  poor  work  may  perish,  but 
thine  shall  endure!  This  monument  may  moulder  away; 
the  solid  ground  it  rests  upon  may  sink  down  to  a  level 
with  the  sea,  but  thy  memory  shall  not  fail !  Wheresoever 
among  men  a  heart  shall  be  found  that  beats  to  the  trans- 
ports of  patriotism  and  liberty,  its  aspirations  shall  be  to 
claim  kindred  with  thy  spirit! 

But  the  scene  amid  which  we  stand  does  not  permit  us 
to  confine  our  thoughts  or  our  sympathies  to  those  fearless 
spirits  who  hazarded  or  lost  their  lives  on  this  consecrated 
spot.  We  have  the  happiness  to  rejoice  here  in  the  pres- 
ence of  a  most  worthy  representation  of  the  survivors  of  the 
whole  Kevolutionary  army. 

Veterans,  you  are  the  remnant  of  many  a  well-fought 
field.  You  bring  with  you  marks  of  honor  from  Trenton 
and  Monmouth,  from  Yorktown,  Camden,  Bennington,  and 
Saratoga.  Veterans  of  half  a  century,  when  in  your  youth- 
ful days  you  put  everything  at  hazard  in  your  country's 
cause,  good  as  that  cause  was,  and  sanguine  as  youth  is, 
still  your  fondest  hopes  did  not  stretch  onward  to  an  hour 
like  this!  At  a  period  to  which  you  could  not  reasonably 
have  expected  to  arrive;  at  a  moment  of  national  prosperity, 
such  as  you  could  never  have  foreseen,  you  are  now  met 


BUNKER   HILL  MONUMENT 


277 


here  to  enjoy  the  fellowship  of  old  soldiers  and  to  receive 
the  overflowings  of  a  universal  gratitude. 

But  your  agitated  countenances  and  your  heaving  breasts 
inform  me  that  even  this  is  not  an  unmixed  joy.  I  perceive 
that  a  tumult  of  contending  feelings  rushes  upon  you.  The 
images  of  the  dead,  as  well  as  the  persons  of  the  living, 
throng  to  your  embraces.  Tlie  scene  overwhelms  you,  and 
I  turn  from  it.  May  the  Father  of  all  mercies  smile  upon 
your  declining  years  and  bless  them!  And  when  you  shall 
here  have  exchanged  your  embraces;  when  you  shall  once 
more  have  pressed  the  hands  which  have  been  so  often  ex- 
tended to  give  succor  in  adversity,  or  grasped  in  the  exul- 
tation of  victory;  then  look  abroad  into  this  lovely  land, 
which  your  young  valor  defended,  and  mark  the  happiness 
with  which  it  is  filled;  yea,  look  abroad  into  the  whole 
earth  and  see  what  a  name  you  have  contributed  to  give  to 
your  country,  and  what  a  praise  you  have  added  to  free- 
dom, and  then  rejoice  in  tlae  sympathy  and  gratitude  which 
beam  upon  your  last  days  from  the  improved  condition  of 
mankind. 

The  occasion  does  not  require  of  me  any  particular  ac- 
count of  the  battle  of  the  seventeenth  of  June,  nor  any 
detailed  narrative  of  the  events  which  immediately  pre- 
ceded it.  These  are  familiarly  known  to  all.  In  the  prog- 
ress of  the  great  and  interesting  controversy,  Massachusetts 
and  the  town  of  Boston  had  become  early  and  marked 
objects  of  the  displeasure  of  the  British  Parliament.  This 
had  been  manifested  in  the  act  for  altering  the  government 
of  the  Province,  and  in  that  for  shutting  up  the  port  of 
Boston.  Kothing  sheds  more  honor  on  our  early  history, 
and  nothing  better  shows  how  little  the  feelings  and  senti- 
ments of  the  Colonies  were  known  or  regarded  in  England, 


278 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


than  the  impression  which  these  measures  everywhere  pro- 
duced in  America.  It  had  been  anticipated  that  while  the 
other  Colonies  would  be  terrified  by  the  severity  of  the 
punishment  inflicted  on  Massachusetts,  the  other  seaports 
would  be  governed  by  a  m^re  spirit  of  gain;  and  that,  as 
Boston  was  now  cut  off  fror  i  all  commerce,  the  unexpected 
advantage  which  this  blow  on  her  was  calculated  to  confer 
on  other  towns  would  be  greedily  enjoyed.  How  miserably 
such  reasoners  deceived  themselves  I  How  little  they  knew 
of  the  depth,  and  the  strength,  and  the  intenseness  of  that 
feeling  of  resistance  to  illegal  acts  of  power  which  possessed 
the  whole  American  people!  Everywhere  the  unworthy 
boon  was  rejected  with  scorn.  The  fortunate  occasion  was 
seized  everywhere  to  show  to  the  whole  world  that  the 
Colonies  were  swayed  by  no  local  interest,  no  partial  inter- 
est, no  selfish  interest.  The  temptation  to  profit  by  the 
punishment  of  Boston  was  strongest  to  our  neighbors  of 
Salem.  Yet  Salem  was  precisely  the  place  where  this 
miserable  proffer  was  spurned  in  a  tone  of  the  most  lofty 
self-respect  and  the  most  indignant  patriotism.  "We  are 
deeply  affected,"  said  its  inhabitants,  "with  the  sense  of 
our  public  calamities;  but  the  miseries  that  are  now  rapidly 
hastening  on  our  brethren  in  the  capital  of  the  Province 
greatly  excite  our  commiseration.  By  shutting  up  the  port 
of  Boston  some  imagine  that  the  course  of  trade  might  be 
turned  hither,  and  to  our  benefit;  but  we  must  be  dead  to 
every  idea  of  justice,  lost  to  all  feelings  of  humanity,  could 
we  indulge  a  thought  to  seize  on  wealth  and  raise  our  for- 
tunes on  the  ruin  of  our  suffering  neighbors."  These  noble 
sentiments  were  not  confined  to  our  immediate  vicinity.  In 
that  day  of  general  affection  and  brotherhood,  the  blow 
given  to  Boston  smote  on  every  patriotic  heart,  from  one 


BUNKER  HILL  MONUMENT 


279 


end  of  the  country  to  the  other.  Virginia  and  the  Caro- 
linas,  as  well  as  Connecticut  and  New  Hampshire,  felt  and 
proclaimed  the  cause  to  be  their  own.  The  Continental 
Congress,  then  holding  its  first  session  in  Philadelphia, 
expressed  its  sympathy  for  .'.he  suffering  inhabitants  of 
Boston,  and  addresses  were  received  from  all  quarters  as- 
suring them  that  the  cause  was  a  common  one,  and  should 
be  met  by  common  efforts  and  common  sacrifices.  The 
Congress  of  Massachusetts  responded  to  these  assurances; 
and  in  an  address  to  the  Congress  at  Philadelphia,  bearing 
the  official  signature,  perhaps  among  the  last  of  the  im- 
mortal Warren,  notwithstanding  the  severity  of  its  suffer- 
ing and  the  magnitude  of  the  dangers  which  threatened  it, 
it  was  declared  that  this  Colony  "is  ready,  at  all  times,  to 
spend  and  to  be  spent  in  the  cause  of  America." 

But  the  hour  drew  nigh  which  was  to  put  professions 
to  the  proof  and  to  determine  whether  the  authors  of  these 
mutual  pledges  were  ready  to  seal  them  in  blood.  The 
tidings  of  Lexington  and  Concord  had  no  sooner  spread 
than  it  was  universally  felt  that  the  time  was  at  last  come 
for  action.  A  spirit  pervaded  all  ranks,  not  trc-nsient,  not 
boisterous,  but  deep,  solemn,  determined — 

"Totamque  infusa  per  artus 
Mens  agitat  molem,  et  magno  se  corpore  miscet." 

War,  on  their  own  soil  and  at  their  own  doors,  was,  indeed, 
a  strange  work  to  the  yeomanry  of  New  England;  but  their 
consciences  were  convinced  of  its  necessity,  their  country 
called  them  to  it  and  they  did  not  withhold  themselves  from 
the  perilous  trial.  The  ordinary  occupations  of  life  were 
abandoned;  the  plow  was  stayed  in  the  unfinished  furrow; 
wives  gave  up  their  husbands,  and  mothers  gave  up  their 
sons  to  the  battles  of  a  civil  war.    Death  might  come,  in 


280 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


honor,  on  the  field;  it  might  come,  in  disgrace,  on  the 
scaffold.  For  either  and  for  both  they  were  prepared. 
The  sentiment  of  Quincy  was  full  in  their  hearts.  "Bland- 
ishments," said  that  distinguished  son  of  genius  and  patri- 
otism, "will  not  fascinate  us,  nor  will  threats  of  a  halter 
intimidate;  for,  under  God,  we  are  determined  that  where- 
soever, whensoever,  or  howsoever  we  shall  be  called  to 
make  our  exit,  we  will  die  free  men." 

The  seventeenth  of  June  saw  the  four  Kew  England 
Colonies  standing  here,  side  by  side,  to  triumph  or  to  fall 
together;  and  there  was  with  them  from  that  moment  to 
the  end  of  the  war,  what  I  hope  will  remain  with  them  for- 
ever— one  cause,  one  country,  one  heart. 

The  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  was  attended  with  the  most 
important  effects  beyond  its  immediate  result  as  a  military 
engagement.  It  created  at  once  a  state  of  open,  public 
war.  There  could  now  be  no  longer  a  question  of  proceed- 
ing against  individuals  as  guilty  of  treason  or  rebellion. 
That  fearful  crisis  was  past.  The  appeal  now  lay  to  the 
sword,  and  the  only  question  was  whether  the  spirit  and 
the  resources  of  the  people  would  hold  out  till  the  object 
should  be  accomplished.  Kor  were  its  general  consequences 
confined  to  our  own  country.  The  previous  proceedings  of 
the  Colonies,  their  appeals,  resolutions,  and  addresses  had 
made  their  cause  known  to  Europe.  Without  boasting,  we 
may  say  that  in  no  age  or  country  has  the  public  cause  been 
maintained  with  more  force  of  argument,  more  power  of 
illustration,  or  more  of  that  persuasion  which  excited  feel- 
ing and  elevated  principle  can  alone  bestow,  than  the  Revo- 
lutionary State  papers  exhibit.  These  papers  will  forever 
deserve  to  be  studied,  not  only  for  the  spirit  which  they 
breathe,  but  for  the  ability  with  which  they  were  written. 


BUNKER   HILL  MOXUMENT 


281 


To  this  able  vindication  of  their  caase,  the  Colonies  had 
now  added  a  practical  and  severe  proof  of  their  own  true 
devotion  to  it,  and  evidence  also  of  the  power  which  they 
could  bring  to  its  support.  All  now  saw  that  if  America 
fell,  she  would  not  fall  without  a  struggle.  Men  felt  sym- 
pathy and  regard  as  well  as  surprise  when  they  beheld  these 
infant  States,  remote,  unknown,  unaided,  encounter  the 
power  of  England,  and  in  the  first  considerable  battle  leave 
more  of  their  enemies  dead  on  the  field,  in  proportion  to 
the  number  of  combatants,  than  they  had  recently  known 
in  the  wars  of  Europe. 

Information  of  these  events  circulating  through  Europe 
at  length  reached  the  ears  of  one  who  now  hears  me.  He 
has  not  forgotten  the  emotion  which  the  fame  of  Bunker 
Hill  and  the  name  of  Warren  excited  in  his  youthful  breast. 

Sir,  we  are  assembled  to  commemorate  the  establishment 
of  great  public  principles  of  liberty,  and  to  do  honor  to  the 
distinguished  dead.  The  occasion  is  too  severe  for  eulogy 
to  the  living.  But,  sir,  your  interesting  relation  to  this 
country,  the  peculiar  circumstances  which  surround  you 
and  surround  us,  call  on  me  to  express  the  happiness  which 
we  derive  from  your  presence  and  aid  in  this  solemn  com- 
memoration. 

Fortunate,  fortunate  man!  with  what  measure  of  devo- 
tion will  you  not  thank  God  for  the  circumstances  of  your 
extraordinary  life!  You  are  connected  with  both  hemi- 
spheres and  with  two  generations.  Heaven  saw  fit  to 
ordain  that  the  electric  spark  of  liberty  should  be  con- 
ducted, through  you,  from  the  New  World  to  the  Old; 
and  we,  who  are  now  here  to  perform  this  duty  of  patriot- 
ism, have  all  of  us  long  ago  received  it  in  charge  from  our 
fathers  to  cherish  your  name  and  your  virtues.    You  will 


282 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


account  it  an  instance  of  your  good  fortune,  sir,  that  you 
crossed  the  seas  to  visit  us  at  a  time  which  enables  you  to 
be  present  at  this  solemnity.  You  now  behold  the  field, 
the  renown  of  which  reached  you  in  the  heart  of  France, 
and  caused  a  thrill  in  your  ardent  bosom.  You  see  the 
lines  of  the  little  redoubt  thrown  up  by  the  incredible 
diligence  of  Prescott;  defended  to  the  last  extremity,  by 
his  lion-hearted  valor;  and  within  which  the  cornerstone 
of  our  monument  has  now  taken  its  position.  You  see 
where  Warren  fell,  and  where  Parker,  Gardner,  McCleary, 
Moore,  and  other  early  patriots  fell  with  him.  Those  who 
survived  that  day,  and  whose  lives  have  been  prolonged  to 
the  present  hour,  are  now  around  you.  Some  of  them  you 
have  known  in  the  trying  scenes  of  the  war.  Behold!  they 
now  stretch  forth  their  feeble  arms  to  embrace  you.  Be- 
hold! they  raise  their  trembling  voices  to  invoke  the  bless- 
ing of  God  on  you  and  yours  forever. 

Sir,  you  have  assisted  us  in  laying  the  foundation  of 
this  edifice.  You  have  heard  us  rehearse,  with  our  feeble 
commendation,  the  names  of  departed  patriots.  Sir,  monu- 
ments and  eulogy  belong  to  the  dead.  We  give  them  this 
day  to  Warren  and  his  associates.  On  other  occasions  they 
have  been  given  to  your  more  immediate  companions  in 
arms,  to  Washington,  to  Greene,  to  Gates,  Sullivan,  and 
Lincoln.  Sir,  we  have  become  reluctant  to  grant  these, 
our  highest  and  last  honors,  further.  We  would  gladly 
hold  them  yet  back  from  the  little  remnant  of  that  im- 
mortal band.  ^^Serus  in  caelum  redeas.'^  Illustrious  as  are 
your  merits,  yet  far,  oh,  very  far  distant  be  the  day  when 
any  inscription  shall  bear  your  name,  or  any  tongue  pro- 
nounce its  eulogy! 

The  leading  reflection  to  which  this  occasion  seems  to 


BUNKER   HILL  MONUMENT 


283 


invite  us  respects  the  great  changes  which  have  happened 
in  the  fifty  years  since  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  was  fought. 
And  it  peculiarly  marks  the  character  of  the  present  age 
that,  in  looking  at  these  changes  and  in  estimating  their 
effect  on  our  condition,  we  are  obliged  to  consider,  not 
what  has  been  done  in  our  own  country  only,  bat  in  others 
also.  In  these  interesting  times,  while  nations  are  making 
separate  and  individual  advances  in  improvement,  they 
make,  too,  a  common  progress;  like  vessels  on  a  common 
tide,  propelled  by  the  gales  at  different  rates,  according  to 
their  several  structure  and  management,  but  all  moved  for- 
ward by  one  mighty  current  beneath,  strong  enough  to  bear 
onward  whatever  does  not  sink  beneath  it. 

A  chief  distinction  of  the  present  day  is  a  community 
of  opinions  and  knowledge  among  men,  in  different  nations, 
existing  in  a  degree  heretofore  unknown.  Knowledge  has, 
in  our  time,  triumphed,  and  is  triumphing  over  distance, 
over  difference  of  languages,  over  diversity  of  habits,  over 
prejudice,  and  over  bigotry.  The  civilized  and  Christian 
world  is  fast  learning  the  great  lesson,  that  difference  of 
nation  does  not  imply  necessary  hostility,  and  that  all  con- 
tact need  not  be  war.  The  whole  world  is  becoming  a  com- 
mon field  for  intellect  to  act  in.  Energy  of  mind,  genius, 
power,  wheresoever  it  exists,  may  speak  out  in  any  tongue, 
and  the  world  will  hear  it.  A  great  chord  of  sentiment 
and  feeling  runs  through  two  continents,  and  vibrates 
over  both.  Every  breeze  wafts  intelligence  from  country 
to  country;  every  wave  rolls  it;  all  give  it  forth,  and  all  in 
turn  receive  it.  There  is  a  vast  commerce  of  ideas;  there 
are  marts  and  exchanges  for  intellectual  discoveries,  and 
a  wonderful  fellowship  of  those  individual  intelligences 
which  make  up  the  mind  and  opinion  of  the  ago.    Mind  is 


284 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


the  great  lever  of  all  things;  human  thought  is  the  proc- 
ess by  which  human  ends  are  ultimately  answered;  and 
the  diffusion  of  knowledge,  so  astonishing  in  the  last  half 
century,  has  rendered  innumerable  minds,  variously  gifted 
by  nature,  competent  to  be  competitors,  or  fellow-workers, 
on  the  theatre  of  intellectual  operation. 

From  these  causes,  important  improvements  have  taken 
place  in  the  personal  condition  of  individuals.  Generally 
speaking,  mankind  are  not  only  better  fed  and  better 
clothed,  but  they  are  able  also  to  enjoy  more  leisure; 
they  possess  more  refinement  and  more  self-respect.  A 
superior  tone  of  education,  manners,  and  habits  prevails. 
This  remark,  most  true  in  its  application  to  our  own 
country,  is  also  partly  true  when  applied  elsewhere.  It 
is  proved  by  the  vastly  augmented  consumption  of  those 
articles  of  manufacture  and  of  commerce  which  contrib- 
ute to  the  comforts  and  the  decencies  of  life — an  augmen- 
tation which  has  far  outrun  the  progress  of  population. 
And  while  the  unexampled  and  almost  incredible  use  of 
machinery  would  seem  to  supply  the  place  of  labor,  labor 
still  finds  its  occupation  and  its  reward;  so  wisely  has 
Providence  adjusted  men's  wants  and  desires  to  their 
condition  and  their  capacity. 

Any  adequate  survey,  however,  of  the  progress  made 
in  the  last  half  century,  in  the  polite  and  the  mechanic 
arts,  in  machinery  and  manufactures,  in  commerce  and 
agriculture,  in  letters  and  in  science,  would  require  vol- 
umes. 1  must  abstain  wholly  from  these  subjects,  and 
turn,  for  a  moment,  to  the  contemplation  of  what  has 
been  done  on  the  great  question  of  politics  and  govern- 
ment. This  is  the  master  topic  of  the  age;  and  during 
the  whole  fifty  years,  it  has  intensely  occupied  the  thoughts 


BUNKER  HILL  MONUMENT 


285 


of  men.  The  nature  of  civil  government,  its  ends  and  uses, 
have  been  canvassed  and  investigated ;  ancient  opinions  at- 
tacked and  defended;  new  ideas  recommended  and  resisted 
by  whatever  power  the  mind  of  man  could  bring  to  the  con- 
troversy. From  the  closet  and  the  public  halls  the  debate 
has  been  transferred  to  the  field;  and  the  world  has  been 
shaken  by  wars  of  unexampled  magnitude,  and  the  greatest 
variety  of  fortune.  A  day  of  peace  has  at  length  succeeded; 
and  now  that  the  strife  has  subsided,  and  the  smoke  cleared 
away,  we  may  begin  to  see  what  has  actually  been  done, 
permanently  changing  the  state  and  condition  of  human 
society.  And  without  dwelling  on  particular  circum- 
stances, it  is  most  apparent  that,  from  the  before-men- 
tioned causes  of  augmented  knowledge  and  improved 
individual  condition,  a  real,  substantial,  and  important 
change  has  taken  place,  and  is  taking  place,  greatly  bene- 
ficial, on  the  whole,  to  human  liberty  and  human  happiness. 

The  great  wheel  of  political  revolution  began  to  move  in 
America.  Here  its  rotation  was  guarded,  regular,  and  safe. 
Transferred  to  the  other  continent,  from  unfortunate  but 
natural  causes,  it  received  an  irregular  and  violent  im- 
pulse; it  whirled  along  with  a  fearful  celerity,  till  at 
length,  like  the  chariot  wheels  in  the  races  of  antiquity, 
it  took  fire  from  the  rapidity  of  its  own  motion,  and  blazed 
onward,  spreading  conflagration  and  terror  around. 

We  learn  from  the  result  of  this  experiment  how  fortu- 
nate was  our  own  condition,  and  how  admirably  the  char- 
acter of  our  people  was  calculated  for  making  the  great 
example  of  popular  governments.  The  possession  of 
power  did  not  turn  the  heads  of  the  American  people, 
for  they  had  long  been  in  the  habit  of  exercising  a  great 
portion  of  self-control.     Although  the  paramount  author- 


286 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


itj  of  the  parent  State  existed  over  them,  yet  a  large  field 
of  legislation  had  always  been  open  to  our  Colonial  assem- 
blies. They  were  accustomed  to  representative  bodies  and 
the  forms  of  free  government;  they  understood  the  doctrine 
of  the  division  of  power  among  different  branches  and  the 
necessity  of  checks  on  each.  The  character  of  our  country- 
men, moreover,  was  sober,  moral,  and  religious;  and  there 
was  little  in  the  change  to  shock  their  feelings  of  justice 
and  humanity,  or  even  to  disturb  an  honest  prejudice. 
We  had  no  domestic  throne  to  overturn,  no  privileged 
orders  to  cast  down,  no  violent  changes  of  property  to 
encounter.  In  the  American  Kevolution,  no  man  sought 
or  wished  for  more  than  to  defend  and  enjoy  his  own. 
None  hoped  for  plunder  or  for  spoil.  Kapacity  was  un- 
known to  it;  the  axe  was  not  among  the  instruments  of  its 
accomplishment;  and  we  all  know  that  it  could  not  have 
lived  a  single  day  under  any  well-founded  imputation  of 
possessing  a  tendency  adverse  to  the  Christian  religion. 

It  need  not  surprise  us  that,  under  circumstances  less 
auspicious,  political  revolutions  elsewhere,  even  when  well 
intended,  have  terminated  differently.  It  is,  indeed,  a  great 
achievement,  it  is  the  master-work  of  the  world,  to  establish 
governments  entirely  popular,  on  lasting  foundations;  nor 
is  it  easy,  indeed,  to  introduce  the  popular  principle  at  all 
into  governments  to  which  it  has  been  altogether  a  stranger. 
It  cannot  be  doubted,  however,  that  Europe  has  come  out 
of  the  contest,  in  which  she  has  been  so  long  engaged,  with 
greatly  superior  knowledge,  and,  in  many  respects,  a  highly 
improved  condition.  Whatever  benefit  has  been  acquired 
is  likely  to  be  retained,  for  it  consists  mainly  in  the  acquisi- 
tion of  more  enlightened  ideas.  And  although  kingdoms 
and  provinces  may  be  wrested  from  the  hands  that  hold 


BUNKER  HILL  MONUMENT 


287 


them,  in  the  same  manner  they  were  obtained;  although 
ordinary  and  vulgar  power  may,  in  human  affairs,  be  lost 
as  it  has  been  won,  yet  it  is  the  glorious  prerogative  of  the 
empire  of  knowledge,  that  what  it  gains  it  never  loses.  On 
the  contrary,  it  increases  by  the  multiple  of  its  own  power; 
all  its  ends  become  means;  all  its  attainments  help  to  new 
conquests.  Its  whole  abundant  harvest  is  but  so  much  seed 
wheat,  and  nothing  has  ascertained,  and  nothing  can  ascer- 
tain, the  amount  of  ultimate  product. 

Under  the  influence  of  this  rapidly  increasing  knowledge, 
the  people  have  begun,  in  all  forms  of  government,  to  think 
and  to  reason  on  affairs  of  state.  Regarding  government  as 
an  institution  for  the  public  good,  they  demand  a  knowledge 
of  its  operations  and  a  participation  in  its  exercise.  A  call 
for  the  representative  system,  wherever  it  is  not  enjoyed, 
and  where  there  is  already  intelligence  enough  to  estimate 
its  value,  is  perseveringly  made.  Where  men  may  speak 
out,  they  demand  it;  where  the  bayonet  is  at  their  throats, 
they  pray  for  it. 

When  Louis  XIV.  said:  "1  am  the  State,"  he  expressed 
the  essence  of  the  doctrine  of  unlimited  power.  By  the  rules 
of  that  system,  the  people  are  disconnected  from  the  State; 
they  are  its  subjects;  it  is  their  lord.  These  ideas,  founded 
in  the  love  of  power,  and  long  supported  by  the  excess  and 
the  abuse  of  it,  are  yielding  in  our  age  to  other  opinions; 
and  the  civilized  world  seems  at  last  to  be  proceeding  to 
the  conviction  of  that  fundamental  and  manifest  truth,  that 
the  powers  of  government  are  but  a  trust,  and  that  they 
cannot  be  lawfully  exercised  but  for  the  good  of  the  com- 
munityo  As  knowledge  is  more  and  more  extended,  this 
conviction  becomes  more  and  more  general.  Knowledge, 
in  truth,  is  the  great  sun  in  the  firmament.     Life  and 


288 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


power  are  scattered  with  all  its  beams.  The  prayer  of 
the  Grecian  combatant,  when  enveloped  in  unnatural 
«louds  and  darkness,  is  the  appropriate  political  suppli- 
cation for  the  people  of  every  country  not  yet  blessed 
with  free  institutions: 

"Dispel  this  cloud,  the  h'ght  of  heaven  restore; 
Give  me  to  see — and  Ajax  asks  no  more." 

We  may  hope  that  the  growing  influence  of  enlightened 
sentiments  will  promote  the  permanent  peace  of  the  world. 
Wars,  to  maintain  family  alliances,  to  uphold  or  to  cast 
down  dynasties,  to  regulate  successions  to  thrones,  which 
have  occupied  so  much  room  in  the  history  of  modern 
times,  if  not  less  likely  to  happen  at  all,  will  be  less  likely 
to  become  general  and  involve  many  nations,  as  the  great 
principle  shall  be  more  and  more  established,  that  the  in- 
terest of  the  world  is  peace,  and  its  first  great  statute,  that 
every  nation  possesses  the  power  of  establishing  a  govern- 
ment for  itself.  But  public  opinion  has  attained  also  an 
influence  over  governments  which  do  not  admit  the  popu- 
lar principle  into  their  organization.  A  necessary  respect 
for  the  judgment  of  the  world  operates,  in  some  measure, 
as  a  control  over  the  most  unlimited  forms  of  authority.  It 
is  owing,  perhaps,  to  this  truth,  that  the  interesting  struggle 
of  the  Greeks  has  been  suffered  to  go  on  so  long,  without  a 
direct  interference,  either  to  wrest  that  country  from  its 
present  masters,  and  add  it  to  other  powers,  or  to  execute 
the  system  of  pacification  by  force,  and,  with  united  strength, 
lay  the  neck  of  Christian  and  civilized  Greece  at  the  foot  of 
the  barbarian  Turk.  Let  us  thank  God  that  we  live  in  an 
age  when  something  has  influence  besides  the  bayonet,  and 
when  the  sternest  authority  does  not  venture  to  encounter 


BUNKER   HILL  MONUMENT 


289 


the  scorching  power  of  public  reproach.  Any  attempt  of 
the  kind  I  have  mentioned  should  be  met  by  one  universal 
burst  of  indignation;  the  air  of  the  civilized  world  ought  to 
be  made  too  warm  to  be  comfortably  breathed  by  any  who 
would  hazard  it. 

It  is,  indeed  a  touching  reflection,  that  while,  in  the 
fulness  of  our  country's  happiness,  we  rear  this  monument 
to  her  honor,  we  look  for  instruction  in  our  undertaking,  to 
a  country  which  is  now  in  fearful  contest,  not  for  works  of 
art  or  memorials  of  glory,  but  for  her  own  existence.  Let 
her  be  assured  that  she  is  not  forgotten  in  the  world;  that 
her  efforts  are  applauded,  and  that  constant  prayers  ascend 
for  her  success.  And  let  us  cherish  a  confident  hope  for 
her  final  triumph.  If  the  true  spark  of  religious  and  civil 
liberty  be  kindled,  it  will  burn.  Human  agency  cannot 
extinguish  it.  Like  the  earth's  central  fire,  it  may  be 
smothered  for  a  time;  the  ocean  may  overwhelm  it; 
mountains  may  press  it  down;  but  its  inherent  and  un- 
conquerable force  will  heave  both  the  ocean  and  the  land, 
and  at  some  time  or  another,  in  some  place  or  another,  the 
volcano  will  break  out  and  flame  up  to  heaven. 

Among  the  great  events  of  the  half-century,  we  must 
reckon,  certainly,  the  revolution  of  South  America;  and 
we  are  not  likely  to  overrate  the  importance  of  that  revo- 
lution, either  to  the  people  of  the  country  itself  or  to  the 
rest  of  the  world.  The  late  Spanish  Colonies,  now  inde- 
pendent States,  under  circumstances  less  favorable,  doubt- 
less, than  attended  our  own  Eevolution,  liave  yet  successfully 
commenced  their  national  existence.  They  have  accom- 
plished the  great  object  of  establishing  their  independence; 
they  are  known  and  acknowledged  in  the  world;  and,  al- 
though in  regard  to  their  systems  of  government,  their  sen- 

Vol.  5—19 


290 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


timents  on  religious  toleration,  and  their  provisions  for  pub- 
lic instruction,  they  may  have  yet  much  to  learn,  it  must  be 
admitted  that  they  have  risen  to  the  condition  of  settled  and 
established  States  more  rapidly  than  could  have  been  rea- 
sonably anticipated.  They  already  furnish  an  exhilarating 
example  of  the  difference  between  free  governments  and 
despotic  misrule.  Their  commerce  at  this  moment  creates 
a  new  activity  in  all  the  great  marts  of  the  world.  They 
show  themselves  able  by  an  exchange  of  commodities  to 
bear  a  useful  part  in  the  intercourse  of  nations.  A  new 
spirit  of  enterprise  and  industry  begins  to  prevail;  all  the 
great  interests  of  society  receive  a  salutary  impulse;  and  the 
progress  of  information  not  only  testifies  to  an  improved 
condition,  but  constitutes  itself  the  highest  and  most  essen- 
tial improvement. 

When  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  was  fought,  the  exist- 
ence of  South  America  was  scarcely  felt  in  the  civilized 
world.  The  thirteen  little  Colonies  of  North  America  ha- 
bitually called  themselves  the  "Continent."  Borne  down 
by  Colonial  subjugation,  monopoly,  and  bigotry,  these  vast 
regions  of  the  South  were  hardly  visible  above  the  horizon. 
But  in  our  day  there  hath  been,  as  it  were,  a  new  creation. 
The  Southern  Hemisphere  emerges  from  the  sea.  Its  lofty 
mountains  begin  to  lift  themselves  into  the  light  of  heaven; 
its  broad  and  fertile  plains  stretch  out  in  beauty  to  the  eye 
of  civilized  man  and  at  the  mighty  being  of  the  voice  of 
political  liberty,  the  waters  of  darkness  retire. 

And  now  let  us  indulge  an  honest  exultation  in  the  con- 
viction of  the  benefit  which  the  example  of  our  country  has 
produced  and  is  likely  to  produce  on  human  freedom  and 
human  happiness.  And  let  us  endeavor  to  comprehend  in 
all  its  magnitude  and  to  feel  in  all  its  importance  the  part 


BUNKER   HILL  MONUMENT 


291 


assigned  to  us  in  the  great  drama  of  human  affairs.  We  are 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  system  of  representative  and  popu- 
lar governments.  Thus  far  our  example  shows  that  such 
governments  are  compatible,  not  only  with  respectability 
and  power,  but  with  repose,  with  peace,  with  security  of 
personal  rights,  with  good  laws  and  a  just  administration. 

We  are  not  propagandists.  Wherever  other  systems  are 
preferred,  either  as  being  thought  better  in  themselves  or  as 
better  suited  to  existing  conditions,  we  leave  the  preference 
to  be  enjoyed.  Our  history  hitherto  proves,  however,  that 
the  popular  form  is  practicable  and  that,  with  wisdom  and 
knowledge,  men  may  govern  themselves;  and  the  duty  in- 
cumbent on  us  is  to  preserve  the  consistency  of  this  cheer- 
ing example  and  take  care  that  nothing  may  weaken  its 
authority  with  the  world.  If  in  our  case  the  representative 
system  ultimately  fail,  popular  governments  must  be  pro- 
nounced impossible.  No  combination  of  circumstances  more 
favorable  to  the  experiment  can  ever  be  expected  to  occur. 
The  last  hopes  of  mankind,  therefore,  rest  with  us;  and  if 
it  should  be  proclaimed  that  our  example  had  become  an 
argument  against  the  experiment,  the  knell  of  popular  lib- 
ert}^  would  be  sounded  throughout  the  earth. 

These  are  incitements  to  duty;  but  they  are  not  sugges- 
tions of  doubt.  Our  history  and  our  condition,  all  that  is 
gone  before  us  and  all  that  surrounds  us,  authorize  the  be- 
lief that  popular  governments,  though  subject  to  occasional 
variations,  perhaps  not  always  for  the  better  in  form,  may 
yet  in  their  general  character  be  as  durable  and  permanent 
as  other  systems.  We  know,  indeed,  that' in  our  country 
any  other  is  impossible.  The  principle  of  free  governments 
adheres  to  the  American  soil.  It  is  bedded  in  it — immova- 
ble as  its  mountains. 


292 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


And  let  the  sacred  obligations  which  have  devolved  on 
this  generation  and  on  us  sink  deep  into  our  hearts.  Those 
are  daily  dropping  from  among  us  who  established  our  lib- 
erty and  our  government.  The  great  trust  now  descends  to 
new  hands.  Let  us  apply  ourselves  to  that  which  is  pre- 
sented to  us  as  our  appropriate  object.  We  can  win  no  lau- 
rels in  a  war  for  independence.  Earlier  and  worthier  hands 
have  gathered  them  all.  Nor  are  there  places  for  us  by  the 
side  of  Solon,  and  Alfred,  and  other  founders  of  States. 
Our  fathers  have  filled  them.  But  there  remains  to  us  a 
great  duty  of  defence  and  preservation;  and  there  is  opened 
to  us  also  a  noble  pursuit  to  which  the  spirit  of  the  times 
strongly  invites  us.  Our  proper  business  is  improvement. 
Let  our  age  be  the  age  of  improvement.  In  a  day  of  peace 
let  us  advance  the  arts  of  peace  and  the  works  of  peace. 
Let  us  develop  the  resources  of  our  land,  call  forth  its 
powers,  build  up  its  institutions,  promote  all  its  great  in- 
terests, and  see  whether  we  also,  in  our  day  and  genera- 
tion, may  not  perform  something  worthy  to  be  remembered. 
Let  us  cultivate  a  true  spirit  of  union  and  harmony.  In 
pursuing  the  great  objects  which  our  condition  points  out 
to  us,  let  us  act  under  a  settled  conviction,  and  a  habitual 
feeling  that  these  twenty-four  States  are  one  country.  Let 
our  conceptions  be  enlarged  to  the  circle  of  our  duties. 
Let  as  extend  our  ideas  over  the  whole  of  the  vast  field 
in  which  we  are  called  to  act.  Let  our  object  be  our  coun- 
try, our  whole  country,  and  nothing  but  our  country.  And 
by  the  blessing  of  God  may  that  country  itself  become  a 
vast  and  splendid  monument,  not  of  oppression  and  terror, 
but  of  wisdom,  of  peace,  and  of  liberty,  upon  which  the 
world  may  gaze  with  admirtution,  forever. 


AT  PLYMOUTH   IN  1820 


293 


AT  PLYMOUTH  IN  1820 

FROM  THE  DISCOURSE  IN  COMMEMORATION  OF  THE  FIRST  SETTLEMENT 
OF  NEW  ENGLAND,  DELIVERED  AT  PLYMOUTH,  DECEMBER  22,  1820 

THERE  may  be,  and  there  often  is,  indeed,  a  regard 
for  ancestry,  which  nourishes  only  a  weak  pride; 
as  there  is  also  a  care  for  posterity,  which  only 
disguises  a  habitual  avarice,  or  hides  the  workings  of  a 
low  and  grovelling  vanity.  But  there  is  also  a  moral  and 
philosophical  respect  for  our  ancestors,  which  elevates  the 
character  and  improves  th.e  heart.  Next  to  the  sense  of  re- 
ligious duty  and  moral  feeling,  I  hardly  know  what  should 
bear  with  stronger  obligation  on  a  liberal  and  enlightened 
mind  than  a  consciousness  of  alliance  with  excellence  which 
is  departed;  and  a  consciousness,  too,  that  in  its  acts  and 
conduct,  and  even  in  its  sentiments  and  thoughts,  it  may 
be  actively  operating  on  the  happiness  of  those  who  come 
after  it.  Poetry  is  found  to  have  few  stronger  conceptions, 
by  which  it  would  affect  or  overwhelm  the  mind,  than  those 
in  which  it  presents  the  moving  and  speaking  image  of  the 
departed  dead  to  the  senses  of  the  living.  This  belongs  to 
poetry,  only  because  it  is  congenial  to  our  nature.  Poetry 
is,  in  this  respect,  but  the  handmaid  of  true  philosophy 
and  morality;  it  deals  with  us  as  human  beings,  naturally 
reverencing  those  whose  visible  connection  with  this  state 
of  existence  is  severed,  and  who  may  yet  exercise  we  know 
not  what  sympathy  with  ourselves;  and  when  it  carries  us 
forward  also,  and  shows  us  the  long-continued  result  of  all 
the  good  we  do,  in  the  prosperity  of  those  who  follow  us, 


294 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


till  it  bears  us  from  ourselves,  and  absorbs  us  in  an  intense 
interest  for  what  sball  happen  to  the  generations  after  us — 
it  speaks  only  in  the  language  of  our  nature,  and  affects 
us  with  sentiments  which  belong  to  us  as  human  beings. 

Standing  in  this  relation  to  our  ancestors  and  our  pos- 
terity, we  are  assembled  on  this  memorable  spot,  to  perform 
the  duties  which  that  relation  and  the  present  occasion  im- 
pose upon  us.  We  have  come  to  this  Eock,  to  record  here 
our  homage  for  our  Pilgrim  Fathers;  our  sympathy  in  their 
sufferings;  our  gratitude  for  their  labors;  our  admiration  of 
their  virtues;  our  veneration  for  their  piety;  and  our  attach- 
ment to  those  principles  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  which 
they  encountered  the  dangers  of  the  ocean,  the  storms  of 
heaven,  the  violence  of  savages,  disease,  exile,  and  famine, 
to  enjoy  and  establish.  And  we  would  leave  here  also,  for 
the  generations  which  are  rising  up  rapidly  to  fill  our  places, 
some  proof  that  we  have  endeavored  to  transmit  the  greater 
inheritance  unimpaired ;  that  in  our  estimate  of  public  prin- 
ciples and  private  virtue,  in  our  veneration  of  religion  and 
piety,  in  our  devotion  to  religious  and  civil  liberty,  in  our 
regard  to  whatever  advances  human  knowledge  or  improves 
happiness,  we  are  not  altogether  unworthy  of  our  origin.  .  .  . 

The  hours  of  this  day  are  rapidly  flying,  and  this  occa- 
sion will  soon  be  passed.  Neither  we  nor  our  children  can 
expect  to  behold  its  return.  They  are  in  the  distant  regions 
of  futurity;  they  exist  only  in  the  all-creating  power  of 
God,  who  shall  stand  here  a  hundred  years  hence,  to  trace, 
through  us,  their  descent  from  the  Pilgrims,  and  to  survey, 
as  we  have  now  surveyed,  the  progress  of  their  country  dur- 
ing the  lapse  of  a  century.  We  would  anticipate  their  con- 
currence with  us  in  our  sentiments  of  deep  regard  for  our 
common  ancestors.    We  would  anticipate  and  partake  the 


AT   PLYMOUTH   IN  1820 


295 


pleasure  with  which  they  will  then  recount  the  steps  of 
New  England's  advancement.  On  the  morning  of  that  day, 
although  it  will  not  disturb  us  in  our  repose,  the  voice  of 
acclamation  and  gratitude,  commencing  on  the  Eock  of  Ply- 
mouth, shall  be  transmitted  through  millions  of  the  sons  of 
the  Pilgrims,  till  it  lose  itself  in  the  murmurs  of  the  Pacific 
seas. 

We  would  leave  for  the  consideration  of  those  who  shall 
then  occupy  our  places  some  proof  that  we  hold  the  bless- 
ings transmitted  from  our  fathers  in  just  estimation;  some 
proof  of  our  attachment  to  the  cause  of  good  government 
and  of  civil  and  religious  liberty;  some  proof  of  a  sincere 
and  ardent  desire  to  promote  everything  which  may  enlarge 
the  understandings  and  im.prove  the  hearts  of  men.  And 
when,  from  the  long  distance  of  a  hundred  years,  they  shall 
look  back  upon  us,  they  shall  know  at  least  that  we  pos- 
sessed affections,  which,  running  backward  and  warming 
with  gratitude  for  what  our  ancestors  have  done  for  our 
happiness,  run  forward  also  to  our  posterity,  and  meet  them 
with  cordial  salutation,  ere  yet  they  have  arrived  on  the 
shore  of  being. 

Advance,  then,  ye  future  generations!  We  would  hail 
you,  as  you  rise  in  your  long  succession,  to  fill  the  places 
which  we  now  fill,  and  to  taste  the  blessings  of  existence 
where  we  are  now  passing,  and  soon  shall  have  passed,  our 
own  human  duration.  We  bid  you  welcome  to  this  pleas- 
ant land  of  the  fathers.  We  bid  you  welcome  to  the  health- 
ful skies  and  the  verdant  fields  of  New  England.  We  greet 
your  accession  to  the  great  inheritance  which  we  have  en- 
joyed. We  welcome  you  to  the  blessings  of  good  govern- 
ment and  religious  liberty.  We  welcome  you  to  the  treas- 
ures of  science  and  the  delights  of  learning.    We  welcome 


296 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


you  to  the  traascendeat  sweets  of  domestic  life,  to  the  hap- 
piness of  kindred,  and  parents,  and  children.  "We  welcome 
you  to  the  immeasurable  blessings  of  rational  existence,  the 
immortal  hope  of  Christianity,  and  the  light  of  everlasting 
truth! 


JOHN  ADAMS 

FROM  A  DISCOURSE  IN  COMMEMORATION  OF  THE  LIVES  AND  SERVICES  OF 
JOHN  ADAMS  AND  THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  FANEUIL  HALL. 
BOSTON.  AUGUST  2.  1826 


THE  eloquence  of  Mr.  Adams  resembled  his  general 
character,  and  formed,  indeed,  a  part  of  it.  It  was 
bold,  manly,  and  energetic ;  and  such  the  crisis  re- 
quired. When  public  bodies  are  to  be  addressed  on  momen- 
tous occasions,  when  great  interests  are  at  stake,  and  strong 
passions  excited,  nothing  is  valuable  in  speech  further  than  as 
it  is  connected  with  high  intellectual  and  moral  endowments. 
Clearness,  force,  and  earnestness  are  the  qualities  which 
produce  conviction.  True  eloquence,  indeed,  does  not 
consist  in  speech.  It  cannot  be  brought  from  far.  Labor  * 
and  learning  may  toil  for  it,  but  they  will  toil  in  vain. 
Words  and  phrases  may  be  marshalled  in  every  way,  but 
they  cannot  compass  it.  It  must  exist  in  the  man,  in  the 
subject,  and  in  the  occasion.  Affected  passion,  intense  ex* 
pression,  the  pomp  of  declamation,  all  may  aspire  to  it ;  they 
cannot  reach  it.  It  comes,  if  it  come  at  all,  like  the  out- 
breaking of  a  fountain  from  the  earth,  or  the  bursting  forth 
of  volcanic  fires,  with  spontaneous,  original,  native  force. 
The  graces  taught  in  the  schools,  the  costly  ornaments  and 
studied  contrivances  of  speech,  shock  and  disgust  men. 


JOHN   ADAMS  297 

when  their  own  lives,  and  the  fate  of  their  wives,  their 
children,  and  their  country,  hang  on  the  decision  of  the 
hour.  Then  words  have  lost  their  power,  rhetoric  is  vain, 
and  all  elaborate  oratory  coDtemptible.  Even  genius  itself 
then  feels  rebuked  and  subdued,  as  in  the  presence  of  higher 
qualities.  Then  patriotism  is  eloquent;  then  self-devotion 
is  eloquent.  The  clear  conception,  outrunning  the  deduc- 
tions of  logic,  the  high  purpose,  the  firm  resolve,  the  daunt- 
less spirit,  speaking  on  the  tongue,  beaming  from  the  eye, 
informing  every  feature,  and  urging  the  whole  man  on- 
ward, right  onward  to  his  object — this,  this  is  eloquence; 
or  rather,  it  is  something  greater  and  higher  than  all  elo- 
quence— it  is  action,  noble,  sublime,  godlike  action. 

In  July,  1776,  the  controversy  had  passed  the  stage  of 
argument.  An  appeal  had  been  made  to  force,  and  oppos- 
ing armies  were  in  the  field.  Congress,  then,  was  to  decide 
whether  the  tie  which  had  so  long  bound  us  to  the  parent 
State  was  to  be  severed  at  once,  and  severed  forever.  All 
the  Colonies  had  signified  their  resolution  to  abide  by  this 
decision,  and  the  people  looked  for  it  with  the  most  intense 
anxiety.  And  surely,  fellow  citizens,  never,  never  were 
men  called  to  a  more  important  political  deliberation.  If 
we  contemplate  it  from  the  point  where  they  then  stood, 
no  question  could  be  more  full  of  interest;  if  we  look  at  it 
now,  and  judge  of  its  importance  by  its  effects,  it  appears 
of  still  greater  magnitude. 

Let  us,  then,  bring  before  us  the  assembly,  which  was 
about  to  decide  a  question  thus  big  with  the  fate  of  empire. 
Let  us  open  their  doors  and  look  in  upon  their  deliberations. 
Let  us  survey  the  anxious  and  careworn  countenances,  let  us 
hear  the  firm-toned  voices,  of  this  band  of  patriots. 

Hancock  presides  over  the  solemn  sitting;  and  one  of 


298 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


those  not  yet  prepared  to  pronounce  for  absolute  indepen- 
dence is  on  the  floor,  and  is  urging  his  reasons  for  dissenting 
from  the  Declaration. 

"Let  us  pause!  This  step,  once  taken,  cannot  be  re- 
traced. This  resolution,  once  passed,  will  cue  off  all  hope 
of  reconciliation,  if  success  attend  the  arms  of  England, 
we  shall  then  be  no  longer  Colonies,  with  charters  and  with 
privileges;  these  will  all  be  forfeited  by  this  act;  and  we 
shall  be  in  the  condition  of  other  conquered  people,  at  the 
mercy  of  the  conquerors.  For  ourselves,  we  may  be  ready 
to  run  the  hazard;  but  are  we  ready  to  carry  the  country 
to  that  length  ?  Is  success  so  probable  as  to  justify  it  ? 
Where  is  the  military,  where  the  naval  power,  by  which 
we  are  to  resist  the  whole  strength  of  the  arm  of  England 
— for  she  will  exert  that  strength  to  the  utmost  ?  Can  we 
rely  on  the  constancy  and  perseverance  of  the  people  ?  or 
will  they  not  act  as  the  people  of  other  countries  have  acted, 
and,  wearied  with  a  long  war,  submit,  in  the  end,  to  a  worse 
oppression  ?  While  we  stand  on  our  old  ground,  and  insist 
on  redress  of  grievances,  we  know  we  are  right,  and  are  not 
answerable  for  consequences.  Nothing,  then,  can  be  im- 
puted to  us.  But  if  we  now  change  our  object,  carry  our 
pretensions  further,  and  set  up  for  absolute  independence, 
we  shall  lose  the  sympathy  of  mankind.  We  shall  no 
longer  be  defending  what  we  possess,  but  struggling  for 
something  which  we  never  did  possess,  and  which  we  have 
solemnly  and  uniformly  disclaimed  all  intention  of  pursu- 
ing, from  the  very  outset  of  the  troubles.  Abandoning 
thus  our  old  ground,  of  resistance  only  to  arbitrary  acts  of 
oppression,  the  nations  will  believe  the  whole  to  have  been 
mere  pretence,  and  they  will  look  on  us,  not  as  injured,  but 
as  ambitious  subjects.    I  shudder  before  this  responsibility. 


JOHN  ADAMS 


299 


It  will  be  on  us,  if,  relinquishing  the  ground  on  which  we 
have  stood  so  long,  and  stood  so  safely,  we  now  proclaim 
independence,  and  carry  on  the  war  for  that  object,  while 
these  cities  burn,  these  pleasant  fields  whiten  and  bleach 
with  the  bones  of  their  owners,  and  these  streams  run 
blood.  It  will  be  upon  us,  it  will  be  upon  us,  if,  failing 
to  maintain  this  unseasonable  and  ill-judged  Declaration,  a 
sterner  despotism,  maintained  by  military  power,  shall  be 
established  over  our  posterity,  when  we  ourselves,  given 
up  by  an  exhausted,  a  harassed,  a  misled  people,  shall 
have  expiated  our  rashness  and  atoned  for  our  presump- 
tion on  the  scaffold." 

It  was  for  Mr.  Adams  to  reply  to  arguments  like  these. 
We  know  his  opinions,  and  we  know  his  character.  He 
would  commence  with  his  accustomed  directness  and  ear- 
nestness. 

**Sink  or  swim,  live  or  die,  survive  or  perish,  1  give  my 
hand  and  my  heart  to  this  vote.  It  is  true,  indeed,  that  in 
the  beginning  we  aimed  not  at  independence.  But  there's  a 
Divinity  which  shapes  our  ends.  The  injustice  of  England 
has  driven  us  to  arms;  and,  blinded  to  her  own  interest  for 
our  good,  she  has  obstinately  persisted,  till  independence  is 
now  within  our  grasp.  We  have  but  to  reach  forth  to  it, 
and  it  is  ours.  Why,  then,  should  we  defer  the  Declara- 
tion ?  Is  any  man  so  weak  as  now  to  hope  for  a  reconcili- 
ation with  England,  which  shall  leave  either  safety  to  the 
country  and  its  liberties,  or  safety  to  his  own  life  and  his 
own  honor  ?  Are  not  you,  sir,  who  sit  in  that  chair — is  not 
he,  our  venerable  colleague  near  you — are  you  not  both  al- 
ready the  proscribed  and  predestined  objects  of  punishment 
and  vengeance  ?  Cut  off  from  all  hope  of  royal  clemency, 
what  are  you,  what  can  you  be,  while  the  power  of  England 


300 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


remains,  but  outlaws?  If  we  postpone  independence,  do 
we  mean  to  carry  on,  or  to  give  up,  the  war?  Do  we 
mean  to  submit  to  the  measures  of  Parliament,  Boston 
Port  Bill  and  all?  Do  we  mean  to  submit,  and  consent 
that  we  ourselves  shall  be  ground  to  powder,  and  our 
country  and  its  right  trodden  down  in  the  dust?  1  know 
we  do  not  mean  to  submit.  We  never  shall  submit.  Do 
we  intend  to  violate  that  most  solemn  obligation  ever 
entered  into  by  men,  that  plighting,  before  God,  of  our 
sacred  honor  to  Washington,  when,  putting  him  forth  to 
incur  the  dangers  of  war,  as  well  as  the  political  hazards 
of  the  times,  we  promised  to  adhere  to  him,  in  every  ex- 
tremity, with  our  fortunes  and  our  lives?  1  know  there  is 
not  a  man  here  who  would  not  rather  see  a  general  confla- 
gration sweep  over  the  land,  or  an  earthquake  sink  it,  than 
one  jot  or  tittle  of  that  plighted  faith  fall  to  the  ground. 
For  myself,  having,  twelve  months  ago,  in  this  place, 
moved  you,  that  George  Washington  be  appointed  com- 
mander of  the  forces  raised,  or  to  be  raised,  for  defence 
of  American  liberty,  may  my  right  hand  forget  her  cun- 
ning, and  my  tongue  cleave  to  the  roof  of  my  mouth,  if  I 
hesitate  or  waver  in  the  support  I  give  him. 

"The  war,  then,  must  go  on.  We  must  fight  it  through. 
And  if  the  war  must  go  on,  why  put  off  longer  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence?  That  measure  will  strengthen  us. 
It  will  give  us  character  abroad.  The  nations  will  then 
treat  with  us,  which  they  never  can  do  while  we  acknowl- 
edge ourselves  subjects,  in  arms  against  our  sovereign. 
Kay,  I  maintain  that  England  herself  will  sooner  treat 
for  peace  with  us  on  the  footing  of  independence,  than 
consent,  by  repealing  her  acts,  to  acknowledge  that  her 
whole  conduct  toward  us  has  been  a  course  of  injustice 


JOHN  ADAMS 


301 


and  oppression.  Her  pride  will  be  less  wounded  by  sub- 
mitting to  that  course  of  things  which  now  predestinates 
our  independence,  than  by  yielding  the  points  in  contro- 
versy to  her  rebellious  subjects.  The  former  she  would  re- 
gard as  the  result  of  fortune;  the  latter  she  would  feel  as 
her  own  deep  disgrace.  Why  then,  why  then,  sir,  do  we 
not  as  soon  as  possible  change  this  from  a  civil  to  a 
national  war?  And  since  we  must  fight  it  through,  why 
not  put  ourselves  in  a  state  to  enjoy  all  the  benefits  of  vic- 
tory, if  we  gain  the  victory? 

*'If  we  fail  it  can  be  no  worse  for  us.  But  we  shall  not 
fail.  The  cause  will  raise  up  armies;  the  cause  will  create 
navies.  The  people,  the  people,  if  we  are  true  to  them,  will 
carry  us,  and  will  carry  themselves,  gloriously,  through  this 
struggle.  I  care  not  how  fickle  other  people  have  been 
found.  I  know  the  people  of  these  Colonies,  and  I  know 
that  resistance  to  British  aggression  is  deep  and  settled  in 
their  hearts  and  cannot  be  eradicated.  Every  Colony,  in- 
deed, has  expressed  its  willingness  to  follow,  if  we  but  take 
the  lead.  Sir,  the  Declaration  will  inspire  the  people  with 
increased  courage.  Instead  of  a  long  and  bloody  war  for  the 
restoration  of  privileges,  for  redress  of  grievances,  for  char- 
tered immunities,  held  under  a  British  king,  set  before  them 
the  glorious  object  of  entire  independence,  and  it  will  breathe 
into  them  anew  the  breath  of  life.  Eead  this  Declaration  at 
the  head  of  the  army;  every  sword  will  be  drawn  from  its 
scabbard,  and  the  solemn  vow  uttered,  to  maintain  it,  or  to 
perish  on  the  bed  of  honor.  Publish  it  from  the  pulpit; 
religion  will  approve  it,  and  the  love  of  religious  liberty 
will  cling  round  it,  resolved  to  stand  with  it,  or  fall  with 
it.  Send  it  to  the  public  halls;  proclaim  it  there;  let  them 
hear  it  who  heard  the  first  roar  of  the  enemy's  cannon;  let 


302 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


them  see  it  who  saw  their  brothers  and  their  sons  fall 

on  the  field  of  Bunker  Hill,  and  in  the  streets  of  Lex- 
ington and  Concord,  and  the  very  walls  will  cry  out  in  its 
support. 

"Sir,  I  know  the  uncertainty  of  human  affairs,  but  I  see, 
I  see  clearly,  through  this  day's  business.  You  and  1,  in- 
deed, may  rue  it.  We  may  not  live  to  the  time  when  this 
Declaration  shall  be  made  good.  We  may  die;  die  Colo- 
nists; die  slaves;  die,  it  may  be,  ignominiously  and  on  the 
scaffold.  Be  it  so.  Be  it  so.  If  it  be  the  pleasure  of 
Heaven  that  my  country  shall  require  the  poor  offering 
of  my  life,  the  victim  shall  be  ready,  at  the  appointed  liour 
of  sacrifice,  come  when  that  hour  may.  But  while  I  do  live, 
let  me  have  a  country,  or  at  least  the  hope  of  a  country,  and 
that  a  free  country. 

"But  whatever  maybe  our  fate,  be  assured,  be  assured 
that  this  Declaration  will  stand.  It  may  cost  treasure,  and  it 
may  cost  blood;  but  it  will  stand,  and  it  will  richly  compen- 
sate for  both.  Through  the  thick  gloom  of  the  present,  I  see 
the  brightness  of  the  future,  as  the  sun  in  heaven.  We  shall 
make  this  a  glorious,  an  immortal  day.  When  we  are  in 
our  graves,  our  children  will  honor  it.  They  will  celebrate 
it  with  thanksgiving,  with  festivity,  with  bonfires,  and  illu- 
minations. On  its  annual  return  they  will  shed  tears,  copi- 
ous, gushing  tears,  not  of  subjection  and  slavery,  not  of 
agony  and  distress,  but  of  exultation,  of  gratitude,  and 
of  joy.  Sir,  before  God,  1  believe  the  hour  is  come.  My 
judgment  approves  this  measure,  and  my  whole  heart  is  in 
it.  All  that  I  have,  and  all  that  I  am,  and  all  that  I  hope, 
in  this  life,  I  am  now  ready  here  to  stake  upon  it;  and  I 
leave  off  as  I  began,  that  live  or  die,  survive  or  perish, 
I  am  for  the  Declaration.    It  is  my  living  sentiment,  and 


JOHN  ADAMS 


303 


by  the  blessing  of  God  it  shall  be  my  dying  sentiment, 
Independence  now,  and  Independence  forever/* 

And  so  that  day  shall  be  honored,  illustrious  prophet 
and  patriot  I  so  that  day  shall  be  honored,  and  as  often  as 
it  returns,  thy  renown  shall  come  along  with  it,  and  the 
glory  of  thy  life,  like  the  day  of  thy  death,  shall  not  fail 
from  the  remembrance  of  men. 

It  would  be  unjust,  fellow  citizens,  on  this  occasion, 
while  we  express  our  veneration  for  him  who  is  the  immediate 
subject  of  these  remarks,  were  we  to  omit  a  most  respectful, 
affectionate,  and  grateful  mention  of  those  other  great  men, 
his  colleagues,  who  stood  with  him,  and  with  the  same  spirit, 
the  same  devotion,  took  part  in  the  interesting  transaction. 
Hancock,  the  proscribed  Hancock,  exiled  from  his  home 
by  a  military  governor,  cut  off  by  proclamation  from  the 
mercy  of  the  crown — Heaven  reserved  for  him  the  distin- 
guished honor  of  putting  this  great  question  to  the  vote, 
and  of  writing  his  ow:i  name  first,  and  most  conspicuously, 
on  that  parchment  which  spoke  defiance  to  the  power  of  the 
crown  of  England.  There,  too,  is  the  name  of  that  other 
proscribed  patriot,  Samuel  Adams,  a  man  who  hungered 
and  thirsted  for  the  independence  of  his  country,  who 
thought  the  Declaration  halted  and  lingered,  being  him- 
self not  only  ready,  but  eager,  for  it,  long  before  it  was 
proposed;  a  man  of  the  deepest  sagacity,  the  clearest  fore- 
sight, and  the  profoundest  judgment  in  men.  And  there  is 
Gerry,  himself  among  the  earliest  and  the  foremost  of  the 
patriots,  found,  when  the  battle  of  Lexington  summoned 
them  to  common  counsels,  by  the  side  of  Warren;  a  man 
who  lived  to  serve  his  country  at  home  and  abroad,  and 
to  die  in  the  second  place  in  the  government.    There,  too, 


304 


WEBSTER 


IS  the  inflexible,  the  upright,  the  Spartan  character,  Eoberi 
Treat  Faine.  He  also  lived  to  serve  his  country  through 
the  struggle,  and  then  withdrew  from  her  councils,  only  that 
he  might  give  his  labors  and  his  life  to  his  native  State, 
in  another  relation.  These  names,  fellow  citizens,  are  the 
treasures  of  the  Commonwealth;  and  they  are  treasures 
which  grow  brighter  by  time. 


ON  THE  MURDER  OF  JOSEPH  WHITE 

IVEEY  much  regret  that  it  should  have  been  thought 
necessary  to  suggest  to  you  that  I  am  brought  here 
to  ''hurry  you  against  the  law  and  beyond  the  evi- 
dence." I  hope  I  have  too  much  regard  for  justice,  and 
too  much  respect  for  my  own  character,  to  attempt  either ; 
and  were  I  to  make  such  an  attempt,  I  am  sure  that  in  this 
court  nothing  can  be  carried  against  the  law,  and  that 
gentlemen,  intelligent  and  just  as  you  are,  are  not,  by 
any  power,  to  be  hurried  beyond  the  evidence.  Though 
I  could  well  have  wished  to  shun  this  occasion,  I  have  not 
felt  at  liberty  to  withhold  my  professional  assistance,  when 
it  is.  supposed  that  I  may  be  in  some  degree  useful  in  inves- 
tigating and  discovering  the  truth  respecting  this  most  ex- 
traordinary murder.  It  has  seemed  to  be  a  duty  incumbent 
on  me,  as  on  every  other  citizen,  to  do  my  best  and  my 
utmost  to  bring  to  light  the  perpetrators  of  this  crime. 
Against  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  as  an  individual,  I  can- 
not have  the  slightest  prejudice.  I  would  not  do  him  the 
smallest  injury  or  injustice.    But  I  do  not  affect  to  be  in- 


THE   MURDER  OF   JOSEPH  WHITE 


305 


different  to  the  discovery  and  the  punishment  of  this  deep 
guilt,  i  cheerfully  share  in  the  opprobrium,  how  great  so- 
ever it  may  be,  which  is  cast  on  those  who  feel  and  manifest 
an  anxious  concern  that  all  who  had  a  part  in  planning,  or  a 
hand  in  executing,  this  deed  of  midnight  assassination,  may 
be  brought  to  answer  for  their  enormous  crime  at  the  bar  of 
public  justice. 

Gentlemen,  it  is  a  most  extraordinary  case.  In  some  re- 
spects, it  has  hardly  a  precedent  anywhere;  certainly  none 
in  our  New  England  history.  This  bloody  drama  exhib- 
ited no  suddenly  excited,  ungovernable  rage.  The  actors 
in  it  were  not  surprised  by  any  lion -like  temptation  spring- 
ing upon  their  virtue,  and  overcoming  it,  before  resistance 
could  begin.  Nor  did  they  do  the  deed  to  glut  savage 
vengeance,  or  satiate  long-settled  and  deadly  hate.  It  was 
a  cool,  calculating,  money-making  murder.  It  was  all  "hire 
and  salary,  not  revenge. ' '  It  was  the  weighing  of  money 
against  life;  the  counting  out  of  so  many  pieces  of  silver 
against  so  many  ounces  of  blood. 

An  aged  man,  without  an  enemy  in  the  world,  in  his 
own  house,  and  in  his  own  bed,  is  made  the  victim  of  a 
butcherly  murder,  for  mere  pay.  Truly,  here  is  a  new 
lesson  for  painters  and  poets.  Whoever  shall  hereafter 
draw  the  portrait  of  murder,  if  he  will  show  it  as  it  has 
been  exhibited,  where  such  example  was  last  to  have  been 
looked  for,  in  the  very  bosom  of  our  New  England  society, 
let  him  not  give  it  the  grim  visage  of  Moloch,  the  brow 
knitted  by  revenge,  the  face  black  with  settled  hate,  and 
the  bloodshot  eye  emitting  livid  fires  of  malice.  Let  him 
draw,  rather,  a  decorous,  smooth-faced,  bloodless  demon;  a 
picture  in  repose,  rather  than  in  action;  not  so  much  an 
example  of  human  nature  in  its  depravity,  and  in  its  par- 

Vol.  5—20 


306 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


oxysms  of  crime,  as  an  infernal  being,  a  fiend,  in  the  or- 
dinary display  and  development  of  his  character. 

The  deed  was  executed  with  a  degree  of  self-possession 
and  steadiness  equal  to  the  wickedness  with  which  it  was 
planned.  The  circumstances  now  clearly  in  evidence  spread 
out  the  whole  scene  before  us.  Deep  sleep  had  fallen  on  the 
destined  victim,  and  on  all  beneath  his  roof.  A  healthful 
old  man,  to  whom  sleep  was  sweet,  the  first  sound  slumbers  ' 
of  the  night  held  him  in  their  soft  but  strong  embrace.  The 
assassin  enters,  through  the  window  already  prepared,  into 
an  unoccupied  apartment.  With  noiseless  foot  he  paces 
the  lonely  hall,  half  lighted  by  the  moon;  he  winds  up 
the  ascent  of  the  stairs,  and  reaches  the  door  of  the  cham- 
ber. Of  this,  he  moves  the  lock,  by  soft  and  continued 
pressure,  till  it  turns  on  its  hinges  without  noise;  and  he 
enters,  and  beholds  his  victim  before  him.  The  room  is 
uncommonly  open  to  the  admission  of  light.  The  face  of 
the  innocent  sleeper  is  turned  from  the  murderer,  and  the 
beams  of  the  moon,  resting  on  the  gray  locks  of  his  aged 
temple,  show  him  where  to  strike.  The  fatal  blow  is 
given  I  and  the  victim  passes,  without  a  struggle  or  a 
motion,  from  the  repose  of  sleep  to  the  repose  of  death! 
It  is  the  assassin's  purpose  to  make  sure  work;  and  he 
plies  the  dagger,  though  it  is  obvious  that  life  has  been 
destroyed  by  the  blow  of  the  bludgeon.  He  even  raises 
the  aged  arm,  that  he  may  not  fail  in  his  aim  at  the  heart, 
and  replaces  it  again  over  the  wounds  of  the  poniard  I  To 
finish  the  picture,  he  explores  the  wrist  for  the  pulse  I  He 
feels  for  it,  and  ascertains  that  it  beats  no  longer  I  It  is 
accomplished.  The  deed  is  done.  He  retreats,  retraces  his 
steps  to  the  window,  passes  out  through  it  as  he  came  in, 
and  escapes.    He  has  done  the  murder.    No  eye  has  seen 


THE   MURDER  OF  JOSEPH  WHITE 


307 


him,  no  ear  has  heard  him.  The  secret  is  his  own,  and  it 
is  safe! 

Ah  I  gentlemen,  that  was  a  dreadful  mistake.  Such  a 
secret  can  be  safe  nowhere.  The  whole  creation  of  God 
has  neither  nook  nor  corner  where  the  guilty  can  bestow 
it,  and  say  it  is  safe.  Not  to  speak  of  that  Eye  which 
pierces  through  all  disguises,  and  beholds  everything  as 
in  the  splendor  of  noon,  such  secrets  of  guilt  are  never 
safe  from  detection,  even  by  men.  True  it  is,  generally 
speaking,  that  "murder  will  out."  True  it  is,  that  Provi- 
dence hath  so  ordained,  and  doth  so  govern  things,  that 
those  who  break  the  great  law  of  Heaven  by  shedding 
man's  blood  seldom  succeed  in  avoiding  discovery.  Es- 
pecially, in  a  case  exciting  so  much  attention  as  this,  dis- 
covery must  come,  and  will  come,  sooner  or  later,  A 
thousand  eyes  turn  at  once  to  explore  every  man,  every- 
thing, every  circumstance,  connected  with  the  time  and 
place;  a  thousand  ears  catch  every  v]vhisper;  a  thousand 
excited  minds  intensely  dwell  on  the  scene,  shedding  all 
their  light,  and  ready  to  kindle  the  slightest  circumstance 
into  a  blaze  of  discovery.  Meantime  the  guilty  soul  can- 
not keep  its  own  secret.  It  is  false  to  itself;  or  rather  it 
feels  an  irresistible  impulse  of  conscience  to  be  true  to  it- 
self. It  labors  under  its  guilty  possession,  and  knows  not 
what  to  do  with  it.  The  human  heart  was  not  made  for 
the  residence  of  such  an  inhabitant.  It  finds  itself  preyed 
on  by  a  torment,  which  it  dares  not  acknowledge  to  God 
or  man.  A  vulture  is  devouring  it,  and  it  can  ask  no  sym- 
pathy or  assistance,  either  from  heaven  or  earth.  The  se- 
cret which  the  murderer  possesses  soon  comes  to  possess  him; 
and,  like  the  evil  spirits  of  which  we  read,  it  overcomes 
him,  and  leads  him  whithersoever  it  will.    He  feels  it  beat- 


308 


DANIEL  WEBSTER 


ing  at  his  heart,  rising  to  his  throat,  and  demanding  dis- 
closure. He  thinks  the  whole  world  sees  it  in  his  face, 
reads  it  in  his  eyes,  and  almost  hears  its  workings  in  the 
very  silence  of  his  thoughts.  It  has  become  his  master. 
It  betrays  his  discretion,  it  breaks  down  his  courage,  it 
conquers  his  prudence.  AYhen  suspicions  from  without 
begin  to  embarrass  him,  and  the  net  of  circumstance  to 
entangle  him,  the  fatal  secret  struggles  with  still  greater 
violence  to  burst  forth.  It  must  be  confessed,  it  will  be 
confessed;  there  is  no  refuge  from  confession  but  suicide, 
and  suicide  is  confession. 


JOHN  C.  CALHOUN 


JOHJ^  C.  CALHOUN 


fOHN  Caldwell  Calhoun,  LL.  D.,  a  notable  American  statesman,  author, 
and  with  Webster  and  Clay  one  of  the  foremost  of  the  three  great  de- 

I  baters  of  his  time,  was  born  in  Abbeville  Co.,  S.  C,  March  18,  1782, 
and  died  at  Washington,  D.  C,  March  31,  1850.    After  graduating  with 


high  honors  at  Yale  College,  he  studied  law,  and  presently  found  the  opportunity 
to  enter  political  life  by  denouncing  England's  right  of  search  on  the  high  seas  and 
urging  war  with  that  country  in  the  State  general  assembly  of  1809,  and  later  in 
the  Federal  Congress,  to  which,  in  1811,  he  was  elected.  In  the  latter  body  he  led 
the  War  Democrats  of  the  time,  and  in  1817  became  Secretary  of  War  in  Monroe's 
administration.  From  1825  to  1832,  he  was  Vice-president  of  the  United  States, 
meanwhile  becoming  a  free-trader,  a  stout  defender  of  slavery  and  the  institutions 
of  the  South,  and  took  strong  ground  in  defence  of  State  sovereignty  and  State 
rights.  In  his  advocacy  of  the  latter  and  of  the  doctrine  of  Nullification,  he  took 
part  in  preparing  the  document  known  as  the  "South  Carolina  Exposition,"  issued 
in  1829,  and  which  had  the  endorsement  also  of  Virginia,  Georgia,  and  Alabama. 
This  document  declared  that  any  State  can  annul  and  make  void  such  Federal  laws 
as  it  may  deem  unconstitutional.  This  doctrine  he  afterward  defended  in  the  Sen- 
ate, of  which  body  he  was  a  member  from  1832  to  1843.  South  Carolina,  moreover, 
practically  made  use  of  the  principle  enunciated  by  Calhoun  in  its  action  regarding 
the  tariff  laws  of  the  period,  though  Jackson,  by  his  firmness  and  patriotism,  doomed 
it  to  miscarriage.  In  1844-45,  he  became  Secretary  of  State  in  President  Tyler's 
Cabinet,  and  was  instrumental  in  bringing  about  the  annexation  of  Texas.  After 
this  he  resumed  his  seat  in  the  Senate,  remaining  a  member  of  it  until  his  death, 
and  holding  the  first  place  among  its  debaters.  His  writings,  which  include  a  "Dis- 
quisition on  Government,"  and  an  essay  "On  the  Constitution  and  Government  of 
.the  United  States,"  were  collected  and  published  in  1854.  See  also  a  monograph  in 
the  American  Statesmen  Series,  by  H.  Von  Hoist. 


(309) 


310 


JOHN   CALDWELL  CALHOUN 


SPEECH  ON  THE  SLAVERY  QUESTION 

DELIVERED  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  SENATE,  MARCH  4,  1850 

I HA  YE,  Senators,  believed  from  tlie  first  that  the  agita- 
tion of  the  subject  of  slavery  would,  if  not  prevented 
by  some  timely  and  effective  measure,  end  in  disunion. 
Entertaining  this  opinion,  I  have,  on  all  proper  occasions, 
endeavored  to  call  the  attention  of  both  the  two  great  parties 
which  divide  the  country  to  adopt  some  measure  to  prevent 
so  great  a  disaster,  but  without  success.  The  agitation  has 
been  permitted  to  proceed  with  almost  no  attempt  to  resist  it, 
until  it  has  reached  a  point  when  it  can  no  longer  be  dis- 
guised or  denied  that  the  Union  is  in  danger.  You  have 
thus  had  forced  upon  you  the  greatest  and  the  gravest  ques- 
tion that  can  ever  come  under  your  consideration  —  How 
can  the  Union  be  preserved? 

To  give  a  satisfactory  answer  to  this  mighty  question,  it 
is  indispensable  to  have  an  accurate  and  thorough  knowledge 
of  the  nature  and  the  character  of  the  cause  by  which  the 
Union  is  endangered.  Without  such  knowledge  it  is  impos- 
sible to  pronounce  with  any  certainty  by  what  measure  it  can 
be  saved;  just  as  it  would  be  impossible  for  a  physician  to 
pronounce  in  the  case  of  some  dangerous  disease,  with  any 
certainty,  by  what  remedy  the  patient  could  be  saved,  with- 
out similar  knowledge  of  the  nature  and  character  of  the 
cause  which  produced  it.  The  first  question,  then,  presented 
for  consideration  in  the  investigation  I  propose  to  make  in 
order  to  obtain  such  knowledge  is  —  What  is  it  that  has 
endangered  the  Union? 


ON  THE  SLAVERY  QUESTION 


311 


To  this  question  there  can  be  but  one  answer, — that  the 
immediate  cause  is  the  almost  universal  discontent  which 
pervades  all  the  States  composing  the  southern  section  of  the 
Union.  This  widely  extended  discontent  is  not  of  recent 
origin.  It  commenced  with  the  agitation  of  the  slavery  ques- 
tion and  has  been  increasing  ever  since.  The  next  question, 
going  one  step  further  back,  is  —  What  has  caused  this  widely 
diffused  and  almost  universal  discontent? 

It  is  a  great  mistake  to  suppose,  as  is  by  some,  that  it 
originated  with  demagogues  who  excited  the  discontent  with 
the  intention  of  aiding  their  personal  advancement,  or  with 
the  disappointed  ambition  of  certain  politicians  who  resorted 
to  it  as  the  means  of  retrieving  their  fortunes.  On  the 
contrary,  all  the  great  political  influences  of  the  section  were 
arrayed  against  excitement,  and  exerted  to  the  utmost  to  keep 
the  people  quiet.  The  great  mass  of  the  people  of  the  South 
were  divided,  as  in  the  other  section,  into  Whigs  and  Demo- 
cracts.  The  leaders  and  the  presses  of  both  parties  in  the 
South  were  very  solicitous  to  prevent  excitement  and  to  pre- 
serve quiet;  because  it  was  seen  that  the  effects  of  the  former 
would  necessarily  tend  to  weaken,  if  not  destroy,  the  political 
ties  which  united  them  with  their  respective  parties  in  the 
other  section. 

Those  who  know  the  strength  of  party  ties  will  readily 
appreciate  the  immense  force  which  this  cause  exerted  against 
agitation  and  in  favor  of  preserving  quiet.  But,  great  as 
it  was,  it  was  not  sufficient  to  prevent  the  widespread  dis- 
content which  now  pervades  the  section. 

'No;  some  cause  far  deeper  and  more  powerful  than  the 
one  supposed  must  exist,  to  account  for  discontent  so  wide 
and  deep.  The  question  then  recurs  —  What  is  the  cause  of 
this  discontent  ?   It  will  be  found  in  the  belief  of  the  people 


312 


JOHN   CALDWELL  CALHOUN 


of  the  southern  States,  as  prevalent  as  the  discontent  itself, 
that  they  cannot  remain,  as  things  now  are,  consistently  with 
honor  and  safety,  in  the  Union.  The  next  question  to  be 
considered  is  —  What  has  caused  this  belief? 

One  of  the  causes  is,  undoubtedly,  to  be  traced  to  the  long- 
continued  agitation  of  the  slave  question  on  the  part  of  the 
E'orth,  and  the  many  aggressions  which  they  have  made  on 
the  rights  of  the  South  during  the  time.  I  will  not  enumer- 
ate them  at  present,  as  it  will  be  done  hereafter  in  its  proper 
place. 

There  is  another  lying  back  of  it  —  with  which  this  is 
intimately  oonnected  —  that  may  be  regarded  as  the  great  and 
primary  cause.  This  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  the 
equilibrium  between  the  two  sections  in  the  government  as 
it  stood  when  the  constitution  was  ratified  and  the  govern- 
ment put  in  action  has  been  destroyed.  At  that  time  there 
was  nearly  a  perfect  equilibrium  between  the  two,  which 
afforded  ample  means  to  each  to  protect  itself  against  the 
aggression  of  the  other;  but,  as  it  now  stands,  one  section  has 
the  exclusive  power  of  controlling  the  government,  which 
leaves  the  other  without  any  adequate  means  of  protecting 
itself  against  its  encroachment  and  oppression.  To  place  this 
subject  distinctly  before  you,  I  have.  Senators,  prepared  a 
brief  statistical  statement  showing  the  relative  weight  of  the 
two  sections  in  the  government  under  the  first  census  of  1790 
and  the  last  census  of  1840. 

According  to  the  former,  the  population  of  the  United 
States — including  Vermont,  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee,  which 
then  were  in  their  incipient  condition  of  becoming  States,  but 
were  not  actually  admitted  —  amounted  to  3,929,827.  Of 
this  number  the  northern  States  had  1,997,899,  and  the 
southern  1,952,072,  making  a  difference  of  only  45,827  in 


ON  THE  SLAVERY  QUESTION 


313 


favor  of  the  former  States.  The  number  of  States,  mcluding 
Vermont,  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee,  was  sixteen;  of  which 
eight,  including  Vermont,  belonging  to  the  northern  section, 
and  eight,  including  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  to  the  south- 
ern,— making  an  equal  division  of  the  States  between  the 
two  sections  under  the  first  census.  There  was  a  small  pre- 
ponderance in  the  House  of  Representatives  and  in  the 
Electoral  College  in  favor  of  the  northern,  owing  to  the 
fact  that,  according  to  the  provisions  of  the  constitution,  in 
estimating  federal  numbers  five  slaves  count  but  three ;  but  it 
was  too  small  to  affect  sensibly  the  perfect  equilibrium  which, 
with  that  exception,  existed  at  the  time.  Such  was  the 
equality  of  the  two  sections  when  the  States  composing  them 
agreed  to  enter  into  a  federal  union.  Since  then  the  equi- 
librium between  them  has  been  greatly  disturbed. 

According  to  the  last  census  the  aggregate  population  of 
the  United  States  amounted  to  17,063,357,  of  which  the 
northern  section  contained  9,728,920,  and  the  southern 
7,334,437,  making  a  difference  in  round  numbers  of 
2,400,000.  The  number  of  States  had  increased  from  sixteen 
to  twenty-six,  making  an  addition  of  ten  States.  In  the  mean- 
time the  position  of  Delaware  had  become  doubtful  as  to  the 
section  to  which  she  properly  belonged.  Considering  her  as 
neutral,  the  northern  States  will  have  thirteen  and  the  south- 
ern States  twelve,  making  a  difference  in  the  Senate  of  two 
senators  in  favor  of  the  former.  According  to  the  apportion- 
ment under  the  census  of  1840,  there  were  two  hundred  and 
twenty-three  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  of 
which  the  northern  States  had  one  hundred  and  thirty-five, 
and  the  southern  States  (considering  Delaware  as  neutral) 
eighty-seven,  making  a  difference  in  favor  of  the  former  in 
the  House  of  Representatives  of  forty-eight.    The  difference 


314 


JOHN   CALDWELL  CALHOUN 


in  the  Senate  of  two  members,  added  to  this,  gives  to  the 
l^orth  in  the  Electoral  College  a  majority  of  fifty.  Since 
the  census  of  1840,  four  States  have  been  added  to  the  Union, 
— Iowa,  Wisconsin,  Florida,  and  Texas.  They  leave  the 
difference  in  the  Senate  as  it  was  when  the  census  was  taken ; 
but  add  two  to  the  side  of  the  JSTorth  in  the  House,  making  the 
present  majority  in  the  House  in  its  favor  fifty,  and  in  the 
Electoral  College  fifty-two. 

The  result  of  the  whole  is  to  give  the  northern  section  a 
predominance  in  every  department  of  the  government,  and 
thereby  concentrate  in  it  the  two  elements  which  constitute 
the  federal  government :  a  majority  of  States,  and  a  major- 
ity of  their  population,  estimated  in  federal  numbers.  What- 
ever section  concentrates  the  two  in  itself  possesses  the  con- 
trol of  the  entire  government. 

But  we  are  just  at  the  close  of  the  sixth  decade  and  the 
commencement  of  the  seventh.  The  census  is  to  be  taken  this 
year,  which  must  add  greatly  to  the  decided  preponderance 
of  the  I^orth  in  the  House  of  Representatives  and  in  the 
Electoral  College.  The  prospect  is,  also,  that  a  great  increase 
will  be  added  to  its  present  preponderance  in  the  Senate,  dur- 
ing the  period  of  the  decade,  by  the  addition  of  new  States. 
Two  territories,  Oregon  and  Minnesota,  are  already  in  pro- 
gress, and  strenuous  efforts  are  making  to  bring  in  three  addi- 
tional States  from  the  territory  recently  conquered  from 
Mexico ;  which,  if  successful,  will  add  three  other  States  in  a 
short  time  to  the  northern  section,  making  five  States,  and 
increasing  the  present  number  of  its  States  from  fifteen  to 
twenty,  and  of  its  senators  from  thirty  to  forty. 

On  the  contrary,  there  is  not  a  single  territory  in  progress 
in  the  southern  section,  and  no  certainty  that  any  additional 
State  will  be  added  to  it  during  the  decade.  •  The  prospect 


ON  THE  SLAVERY  QUESTION 


315 


then  is,  that  the  two  sections  in  the  Senate,  should  the  efforts 
now  made  to  exclude  the  South  from  the  newly  acquired 
territories  succeed,  will  stand,  before  the  end  of  the  decade, 
twenty  northern  States  to  fourteen  southern  (considering 
Delaware  as  neutral),  and  forty  northern  senators  to  twenty- 
eight  southern.  This  great  increase  of  senators,  added  to 
the  great  increase  of  members  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives and  the  Electoral  College  on  the  part  of  the  North, 
which  must  take  place  under  the  next  decade,  will  effectually 
and  irretrievably  destroy  the  equilibrium  which  existed  when 
the  government  commenced. 

Had  this  destruction  been  the  operation  of  time  without 
the  interference  of  government,  the  South  would  have  had 
no  reason  to  complain;  but  such  was  not  the  fact.  It  was 
caused  by  the  legislation  of  this  government,  which  was 
appointed  as  the  common  agent  of  all  and  charged  with  the 
protection  of  the  interests  and  security  of  all. 

The  legislation  by  which  it  has  been  effected  may  be  classed 
under  three  heads. 

The  first  is  that  series  of  acts  by  which  the  South  has  been 
excluded  from  the  common  territory  belonging  to  all  the 
States  as  members  of  the  federal  Union — which  have  had 
the  effect  of  extending  vastly  the  portion  allotted  to  the 
northern  section,  and  restricting  within  narrow  limits  the 
portion  left  the  South. 

The  next  consists  in  adopting  a  system  of  revenue  and  dis- 
bursements by  which  an  undue  proportion  of  the  burden 
of  taxation  has  been  imposed  upon  the  South,  and  an  undue 
proportion  of  its  proceeds  appropriated  to  the  North;  and 
the  last  is  a  system  of  political  measures  by  which  the  origi- 
nal character  of  the  government  has  been  radically  changed. 
I  propose  to  bestow  upon  each  of  these,  in  the  order  they 


316 


JOHN   CALDWELL  CALHOUN 


stand,  a  few  remarks,  with  the  view  of  showing  that  it  is 
owing  to  the  action  of  this  government  that  the  equilibrimn 
between  the  two  sections  has  been  destroyed,  and  the  whole 
powers  of  the  system  centred  in  a  sectional  majority. 

The  first  of  the  series  of  acts  by  which  the  South  was 
deprived  of  its  due  share  of  the  Territories  originated  with 
the  confederacy  which  preceded  the  existence  of  this  govern- 
ment. It  is  to  be  found  in  the  provision  of  the  Ordinance  of 
1787.  Its  effect  was  to  exclude  the  South  entirely  from  that 
vast  and  fertile  region  which  lies  between  the  Ohio  and  the 
Mississippi  rivers,  now  embracing  five  States  and  one  Terri- 
tory. The  next  of  the  series  is  the  Missouri  Compromise, 
which  excluded  the  South  from  that  large  portion  of  Louisi- 
ana which  lies  north  of  36°  30',  excepting  what  is  included 
in  the  State  of  Missouri.  The  last  of  the  series  excluded  the 
South  from  the  whole  of  the  Oregon  Territory.  All  these, 
in  the  slang  of  the  day,  were  what  are  called  slave  Territories, 
and  not  free  soil ;  that  is,  Territories  belonging  to  slavehold- 
ing  powers  and  open  to  the  immigration  of  masters  with  their 
slaves. 

By  these  several  acts  the  South  was  excluded  from 
1,238,025  square  miles  —  an  extent  of  country  considerably 
exceeding  the  ent^'re  valley  of  the  Mississippi.  To  the  South 
was  left  the  portion  of  the  Territory  of  Louisiana  lying  south 
of  36°  30',  and  the  portion  north  of  it  included  in  the  State 
of  Missouri,  with  the  portion  lying  south  of  36°  30',  includ- 
ing the  States  of  Louisiana  and  Arkansas,  and  the  territory 
lying  west  of  the  latter  and  south  of  36°  30',  called  the  Indian 
country.  These,  with  the  Territory  of  Florida,  now  the 
State,  make,  in  the  whole,  283,503  square  miles.  To  this 
must  be  added  the  territory  acquired  with  Texas.  If  the 
whole  should  be  added  to  the  southern  section  it  would  make 


ON  THE  SLAVERY  QUESTION 


317 


an  increase  of  325,520,  which  would  make  the  whole  left  to 
the  South  G09,023.  But  a  large  part  of  Texas  is  still  in  con- 
test between  the  two  sections,  which  leaves  it  uncertain  what 
will  be  the  real  extent  of  the  portion  of  territory  that  may  be 
left  to  the  South. 

I  have  not  included  the  territory  recently  acquired  by  the 
treaty  with  Mexico.  The  ISTorth  is  making  the  most  strenuous 
efforts  to  appropriate  the  whole  to  herself,  by  excluding  the 
South  from  every  foot  of  it.  If  she  should  succeed,  it  will 
add  to  that  from  which  the  South  has  already  been  excluded 
526,078  square  miles,  and  would  increase  the  whole  which 
the  I^orth  has  appropriated  to  herself  to  1,764,023,  not  in- 
cluding the  portion  that  she  may  succeed  in  excluding  us 
from  in  Texas.  To  sum  up  the  whole,  the  United  States, 
since  they  declared  their  independence,  have  acquired 
2,373,046  square  miles  of  territory,  from  which  the  ISTorth 
will  have  excluded  the  South,  if  she  should  succeed  in  monop- 
olizing the  newly  acquired  territories,  about  three  fourths  of 
the  whole,  leaving  to  the  South  but  about  one  fourth. 

Such  is  the  first  and  great  cause  that  has  destroyed  the 
equilibrium  between  the  two  sections  in  the  government. 

The  next  is  the  system  of  revenue  and  disbursements  which 
has  been  adopted  by  the  government.  It  is  well  known  that 
the  government  has  derived  its  revenue  mainly  from  duties 
on  imports.  I  shall  not  undertake  to  show  that  such  duties 
must  necessarily  fall  mainly  on  the  exporting  States,  and 
that  the  South,  as  the  great  exporting  portion  of  the  Union, 
has  in  reality  paid  vastly  more  than  her  due  proportion  of 
the  revenue;  because  I  deem  it  unnecessary,  as  the  subject 
has  on  so  many  occasions  been  fully  discussed.  ISTor  shall  I, 
for  the  same  reason,  undertake  to  show  that  a  far  greater 
portion  of  the  revenue  has  been  disbursed  at  the  ISTorth,  than 


318 


JOHN  CALDWELL  CALHOUN 


its  due  share;  and  that  the  joint  effect  of  these  causes  has 
been  to  transfer  a  vast  amount  from  South  to  ITorth,  which, 
under  an  equal  system  of  revenue  and  disbursements,  would 
not  have  been  lost  to  her.  If  to  this  be  added  that  many  of 
the  duties  were  imposed,  not  for  revenue,  but  for  protection, 
—  that  is,  intended  to  put  money,  not  in  the  treasury,  but 
directly  into  the  pocket  of  the  manufacturers, —  some  con- 
ception may  be  formed  of  the  immense  amount  which  in  the 
long  course  of  sixty  years  has  been  transferred  from  South 
to  ISTorth.  There  are  no  data  by  which  it  can  be  estimated 
with  any  certainty;  but  it  is  safe  to  say  that  it  amounts  to 
hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars.  Under  the  most  moderate 
estimate  it  would  be  sufficient  to  add  greatly  to  the  wealth  of 
the  N^orth,  and  thus  greatly  increase  her  population  by 
attracting  immigration  from  all  quarters  to  that  section. 

This,  combined  with  the  great  primary  cause,  amply 
explains  why  the  l^orth  has  acquired  a  preponderance  in 
every  department  of  the  government  by  its  disproportionate 
increase  of  population  and  States.  The  former,  as  has  been 
shown,  has  increased,  in  fifty  years,  2,400,000  over  that  of 
the  South.  This  increase  of  population  during  so  long  a 
period  is  satisfactorily  accounted  for  by  the  number  of  immi- 
grants, and  the  increase  of  their  descendants,  which  have  been 
attracted  to  the  northern  section  from  Europe  and  the  South, 
in  consequence  of  the  advantages  derived  from  the  causes 
assigned.  If  they  had  not  existed  —  if  the  South  had 
retained  all  the  capital  which  has  been  extracted  from  her 
by  the  fiscal  action  of  the  government ;  and  if  it  had  not  been 
excluded  by  the  Ordinance  of  1787  and  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise, from  the  region  lying  between  the  Ohio  and  the 
Mississippi  rivers,  and  between  the  Mississippi  and  the 
Kocky  Mountains  north  of  36°  30'  —  it  scarcely  admits  of 


ON  THE  SLAVERY  QUESTION 


319 


a  doubt  that  it  would  have  divided  the  immigration  with  the 
North,  and  by  retaining  her  own  people  would  have  at  least 
equalled  the  North  in  population  under  the  census  of  1840, 
and  probably  under  that  about  to  be  taken.  She  would  also, 
if  she  had  retained  her  equal  rights  in  those  territories,  have 
maintained  an  equality  in  the  number  of  States  with  the 
North,  and  have  preserved  the  equilibrium  between  the  two 
sections  that  existed  at  the  commencement  of  the  govern- 
ment. The  loss,  then,  of  the  equilibrium  is  to  be  attributed 
to  the  action  of  this  government. 

But  while  these  measures  were  destroying  the  equilibrium 
between  the  two  sections,  the  action  of  the  government  was 
leading  to  a  radical  change  in  its  character,  by  concentrating 
all  the  power  of  the  system  in  itself.  The  occasion  will  not 
permit  me  to  trace  the  measures  by  which  this  great  change 
has  been  consummated.  If  it  did,  it  would  not  be  difficult  to 
show  that  the  process  commenced  at  an  early  period  of  the 
government;  and  that  it  proceeded  almost  without  interrup- 
tion, step  by  step,  until  it  absorbed  virtually  its  entire  pow- 
ers ;  but  without  going  through  the  whole  process  to  establish 
the  fact  it  may  be  done  satisfactorily  by  a  very  short 
statement. 

That  the  government  claims,  and  practically  maintains, 
the  right  to  decide  in  the  last  resort  as  to  the  extent  of  its 
powers,  will  scarcely  be  denied  by  any  one  conversant  with 
the  political  history  of  the  country.  That  it  also  claims  the 
right  to  resort  to  force  to  maintain  whatever  power  it  claims, 
against  all  opposition,  is  equally  certain.  Indeed  it  is  appa- 
rent, from  what  we  daily  hear,  that  this  has  become  the  pre- 
vailing and  fixed  opinion  of  a  great  majority  of  the  com- 
munity. Now,  I  ask,  what  limitation  can  possibly  be  placed 
upon  the  powers  of  a  government  claiming  and  exercising 


320 


JOHN   CALDWELL  CALHOUN 


such  rights  ?  And,  if  none  can  be,  how  can  the  separate  gov- 
ernments of  the  States  maintain  and  protect  the  powers 
reserved  to  them  by  'the  constitution  —  or  the  people  of  the 
several  States  maintain  those  which  are  reserved  to  them,  and 
among  others,  the  sovereign  powers  by  which  they  ordained 
and  established,  not  only  their  separate  State  constitutions 
and  governments,  but  also  the  constitution  and  government 
of  the  United  States  ?  But,  if  they  have  no  constitutional 
means  of  maintaining  them  against  the  right  claimed  by  this 
government,  it  necessarily  follows  that  they  hold  them  at  its 
pleasure  and  discretion,  and  that  all  the  powers  of  the  system 
are  in  reality  concentrated  in  it.  It  also  follows  that  the 
character  of  the  government  has  been  changed  in  conse- 
quence, from  a  federal  republic,  as  it  originally  came  from 
the  hands  of  its  framers,  into  a  great  national  consolidated 
democracy.  It  has  indeed,  at  present,  all  the  characteristics 
of  the  latter,  and  not  one  of  the  former,  although  it  still 
retains  its  outward  form. 

The  result  of  the  whole  of  those  causes  combined  is  that 
the  North  has  acquired  a  decided  ascendancy  over  every 
department  of  this  government,  and  through  it  a  control  over 
all  the  powers  of  the  system.  A  single  section  governed  by 
the  will  of  the  numerical  majority  has  now,  in  fact,  the  con- 
trol of  the  government  and  the  entire  powers  of  the  system. 
What  was  once  a  constitutional  federal  republic  is  now  con- 
verted, in  reality,  into  one  as  absolute  as  that  of  the  autocrat 
of  Kussia,  and  as  despotic  in  its  tendency  as  any  absolute 
government  that  ever  existed. 

As,  then,  the  E'orth  has  the  absolute  control  over  the  gov- 
ernment, it  is  manifest  that  on  all  questions  between  it  and 
the  South,  where  there  is  a  diversity  of  interests,  the  inter- 
est of  the  latter  will  be  sacrificed  to  the  former,  however 


ON  THE  SLAVERY  QUESTION 


321 


oppressive  the  effects  may  be;  as  the  South  possesses  no 
means  by  which  it  can  resist,  through  the  action  of  the  gov- 
ernment. But  if  there  was  no  question  of  vital  importance 
to  the  South;,  in  reference  to  which  there  was  a  diversity  of 
views  between  the  two  sections,  this  state  of  things  might  be 
endured  without  the  hazard  of  destruction  to  the  South. 
But  such  is  not  the  fact.  There  is  a  question  of  vital 
importance  to  the  southern  section,  in  reference  to  which 
the  views  and  feelings  of  the  two  sections  are  as  opposite  and 
hostile  as  they  can  possibly  be. 

I  refer  to  the  relation  between  the  two  races  in  the  south- 
ern section,  which  constitutes  a  vital  portion  of  her  social 
organization.  Every  portion  of  the  ITorth  entertains  views 
and  feelings  more  or  less  hostile  to  it.  Those  most  opposed 
and  hostile  regard  it  as  a  sin,  and  consider  themselves  under 
the  most  sacred  obligation  to  use  every  effort  to  destroy  it. 

Indeed,  to  the  extent  that  they  conceive  that  they  have 
power,  they  regard  themselves  as  implicated  in  the  sin,  and 
responsible  for  not  suppressing  it  by  the  use  of  all  and  every 
means.  Those  less  opposed  and  hostile  regard  it  as  a  crime 
—  an  offence  against  humanity,  as  they  call  it ;  and,  although 
not  so  fanatical,  feel  themselves  bound  to  use  all  efforts  to 
effect  the  same  object;  while  those  who  are  least  opposed  and 
hostile  regard  it  as  a  blot  and  a  stain  on  the  character  of  what 
they  call  the  nation,"  and  feel  themselves  accordingly  bound 
to  give  it  no  countenance  or  support.  On  the  contrary,  the 
southern  section  regards  the  relation  as  one  which  cannot  be 
destroyed  without  subjecting  the  two  races  to  the  greatest 
calamity,  and  the  section  to  poverty,  desolation,  and  wretch- 
edness ;  and  accordingly  they  feel  bound  by  every  considera- 
tion of  interest  and  safety  to  defend  it. 

This  hostile  feeling  on  the  part  of  the  i^orth  towards  the 

Vol.  5—21 


322 


JOHN   CALDWELL  CALHOUN 


social  organization  of  the  South  long  lay  dormant,  but  it  only 
required  some  cause  to  act  on  those  who  felt  most  intensely 
that  they  were  responsible  for  its  continuance,  to  call  it  into 
action.  The  increasing  power  of  this  government,  and  of  the 
control  of  the  ^sTorthern  section  over  all  its  departments,  fur- 
nished the  cause.  It  was  this  which  made  an  impression  on 
the  minds  of  many  that  there  was  little  or  no  restraint  to 
prevent  the  government  from  doing  whatever  it  might  choose 
to  do.  This  was  sufficient  of  itself  to  put  the  most  fanatical 
portion  of  the  [N'orth  in  action,  for  the  purpose  of  destroying 
the  existing  relation  between  the  two  races  in  the  South. 

The  first  organized  movement  towards  it  commenced  in 
1835.  Then^  for  the  first  time,  societies  were  organized, 
presses  established,  lecturers  sent  forth  to  excite  the  people 
of  the  North,  and  incendiary  publications  scattered  over  the 
whole  South,  through  the  mail.  The  South  was  thoroughly 
aroused.  Meetings  were  held  everywhere,  and  resolutions 
adopted,  calling  upon  the  North  to  apply  a  remedy  to  arrest 
the  threatened  evil,  and  pledging  themselves  to  adopt  meas- 
ures for  their  own  protection  if  it  was  not  arrested.  At  the 
meeting  of  Congress,  petitions  poured  in  from  the  North,  call- 
ing upon  Congress  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  and  to  prohibit  what  they  called  the  internal  slave- 
trade  between  the  States  —  announcing  at  the  same  time  that 
their  ultimate  object  was  to  abolish  slavery,  not  only  in  the 
District,  but  in  the  States  and  throughout  the  Union.  'At 
this  period  the  number  engaged  in  the  agitation  was  small, 
and  possessed  little  or  no  personal  influence. 

Neither  party  in  Congress  had  at  that  time  any  sympathy 
with  them  or  their  cause.  The  members  of  each  party  pre- 
sented their  petitions  with  great  reluctance.  Nevertheless, 
small  and  contemptible  as  the  party  then  was,  both  of  the 


ON  THE  SLAVFiRY  QUESTION 


323 


great  parties  of  the  North  dreaded  them.  They  felt  that, 
though  small,  they  were  organized  in  reference  to  a  subject 
which  had  a  great  and  a  commanding  influence  over  the 
Northern  mind.  Each  party,  on  that  account,  feared  to 
oppose  their  petitions,  lest  the  opposite  party  should  take 
advantage  of  the  one  that  might  do  so,  by  favoring  them. 
The  effect  was  that  both  united  in  insisting  that  the  petitions 
should  be  received,  and  that  Congress  should  take  jurisdiction 
over  the  subject. 

To  justify  their  course,  they  took  the  extraordinary  ground 
that  Congress  was  bound  to  receive  petitions  on  every  subject, 
however  objectionable  they  might  be,  and  whether  they  had, 
or  had  not,  jurisdiction  over  the  subject.  These  views  pre- 
vailed in  the  House  of  Representatives  and  partially  in  the 
Senate;  and  thus  the  party  succeeded  in  their  first  movements, 
in  gaining  what  they  proposed  —  a  position  in  Congress  from 
which  agitation  could  be  extended  over  the  whole  Union. 
This  was  the  commencement  of  the  agitation  which  has  ever 
since  continued,  and  which,  as  is  now  acknowledged,  has 
endangered  the  Union  itself. 

As  for  myself,  I  believed  at  that  early  period,  if  the  party 
that  got  up  the  petitions  should  succeed  in  getting  Congress 
to  take  jurisdiction,  that  agitation  would  follow,  and  that  it 
would  in  the  end,  if  not  arrested,  destroy  the  Unioi;i.  I  then 
so  expressed  myself  in  debate,  and  called  upon  both  parties 
to  take  grounds  against  assuming  jurisdiction;  but  in  vain. 
Had  my  voice  been  heeded,  and  had  Congress  refused  to  take 
jurisdiction,  by  the  united  votes  of  all  parties,  the  agitation 
which  followed  would  have  been  prevented,  and  the  fanatical 
zeal  that  gives  impulse  to  the  agitation,  and  which  has 
brought  us  to  our  present  perilous  condition,  would  have 
become  extinguished  from  the  want  of  fuel  to  feed  the  flame. 


324 


JOHN   CALDWELX  CALHOUN 


That  was  the  time  for  the  is^ortli  to -have  shown  her  devo- 
tion to  the  Union;  but,  unfortunately,  both  of  the  great  parties 
of  that  section  were  so  intent  on  obtaining  or  retaining  party 
ascendancy  that  all  other  considerations  were  overlooked  or 
forgotten. 

What  has  since  followed  are  but  natural  consequences. 
With  the  success  of  their  first  movement  this  small  fanatical 
party  began  to  acquire  strength,  and  with  that  to  become 
an  object  of  courtship  to  both  the  great  parties.  The  neces- 
sary consequence  was  a  further  increase  of  power,  and  a 
gradual  tainting  of  the  opinions  of  both  of  the  other  parties 
with  their  doctrines  until  the  infection  has  extended  over 
both;  and  the  great  mass  of  the  population  of  the  ISTorth,  who, 
whatever  may  be  their  opinion  of  the  original  abolition  party, 
which  still  preserves  its  distinctive  organization,  hardly  ever 
fail,  when  it  comes  to  acting,  to  co-operate  in  carrying  out 
their  measures. 

With  the  increase  of  their  influence  they  extended  the 
sphere  of  their  action.  In  a  short  time  after  the  commence- 
ment of  their  first  movement  they  had  acquired  sufficient 
influence  to  induce  the  legislatures  of  most  of  the  northern 
States  to  pass  acts  which  in  effect  abrogated  the  clause  of  the 
constitution  that  provides  for  the  delivery  up  of  fugitive 
slaves.  ISTot  long  after,  petitions  followed  to  abolish  slavery 
in  forts,  magazines,  and  dockyards,  and  all  other  places  where 
Congress  had  exclusive  power  of  legislation.  This  was  fol' 
lowed  by  petitions  and  resolutions  of  legislatures  of  the 
northern  States,  and  popular  meetings,  to  exclude  the  south- 
ern States  from  all  territories  acquired,  or  to  be  acquired,  and 
to  prevent  the  admission  of  any  State  hereafter  into  the 
Union,  which,  by  its  constitution,  does  not  prohibit  slavery. 
And  Congress  is  invoked  to  do  all  this  expressly  with  the 


ON  THE  SLAVERY  QUESTION 


325 


view  to  the  final  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  States.  That  has 
been  avowed  to  be  the  ultimate  object  from  the  beginning  of 
the  agitation  until  the  present  time;  and  yet  the  great  body 
of  both  parties  of  the  North,  with  the  full  knowledge  of  the 
fact,  although  disavowing  the  abolitionists,  have  co-operated 
with  them  in  almost  all  their  measures. 

Such  is  a  brief  history  of  the  agitation  as  far  as  it  has  yet 
advanced.  ^N^ow  I  ask,  Senators,  what  is  there  to  prevent  its 
further  progress  until  it  fulfills  the  ultimate  end  proposed, 
unless  some  decisive  measure  should  be  adopted  to  prevent  it? 

Has  any  one  of  the  causes,  which  has  added  to  its  increase 
from  its  original  small  and  contemptible  beginning  until  it 
has  attained  its  present  magnitude,  diminished  in  force? 

Is  the  original  cause  of  the  movement  —  that  slavery  is  a 
sin,  and  ought  to  be  suppressed  —  weaker  now  than  at  the 
commencement?  Or  is  the  abolition  party  less  numerous  or 
influential,  or  have  they  less  influence  with,  or  control  over, 
the  two  great  parties  of  the  North  in  elections?  Or  has  the 
South  greater  means  of  influencing  or  controlling  the  move- 
ments of  this  government  now  than  it  had  when  the  agitation 
commenced. 

To  all  these  questions  but  one  answer  can  be  given :  No  — 
j\o  —  no.  The  very  reverse  is  true.  Instead  of  being 
weaker,  all  the  elements  in  favor  of  agitation  are  stronger 
now  than  they  were  in  1835,  when  it  first  commenced,  while 
all  the  elements  of  influence  on  the  part  of  the  South  are 
weaker. 

Unless  something  decisive  is  done,  I  again  ask,  what  is  to 
stop  this  agitation  before  the  great  and  final  object  at  which 
it  aims  —  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  States  —  is  consum- 
mated? Is  it,  then,  not  certain  that  if  something  is  not  done 
to  arrest  it,  the  South  will  be  forced  to  choose  between  aboli- 


326 


JOHN   CALDWELL  CALHOUN 


tion  and  secession?  Indeed,  as  events  are  now  moving,  it 
will  not  require  the  South  to  secede  in  order  to  dissolve  the 
Union.  Agitation  will  of  itself  effect  it,  of  which  its  past 
history  furnishes  abundant  proof  —  as  I  shall  next  proceed  to 
show. 

It  is  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  disunion  can  be 
effected  by  a  single  blow.  The  cords  which  bind  these  States 
together  in  one  common  Union  are  far  too  numerous  and 
powerful  for  that.  Disunion  must  be  the  work  of  time.  It 
is  only  through  a  long  process,  and  successively,  that  the 
cords  can  be  snapped  until  the  whole  fabric  falls  asunder. 
Already  the  agitation  of  the  slavery  question  has  snapped 
some  of  the  most  important,  and  has  greatly  weakened  all  the 
others,  as  I  shall  proceed  to  show. 

The  cords  that  bind  the  States  together  are  not  only  many, 
but  various  in  character.  Some  are  spiritual  or  ecclesiasti- 
cal; some  political;  others  social.  Some  appertain  to  the 
benefit  conferred  by  the  Union,  and  others  to  the  feeling  of 
duty  and  obligation. 

The  strongest  of  those  of  a  spiritual  and  ecclesiastical 
nature  consisted  in  the  unity  of  the  great  religious  denomina- 
tions, all  of  which  originally  embraced  the  whole  Union.  All 
these  denominations,  with  the  exception,  perhaps,  of  the 
Catholics,  were  organized  very  much  upon  the  principle  of 
our  political  institutions.  Beginning  with  smaller  meetings 
corresponding  with  the  political  divisions  of  the  country, 
their  organization  terminated  in  one  great  central  assemblage 
corresponding  very  much  with  the  character  of  Congress. 

At  these  meetings  the  principal  clergymen  and  lay  mem- 
bers of  the  respective  denominations  from  all  parts  of  the 
Union  met  to  transact  business  relating  to  their  common  con- 
cerns.   It  was  not  confined  to  what  appertained  to  the  doc- 


ON  THE  SLAVERY  QUESTION 


327 


trines  and  discipline  of  the  respective  denominations,  but 
extended  to  plans  for  disseminating  tlie  Bible,  establishing 
missions,  distributing  tracts  —  and  of  establishing  presses 
for  the  publication  of  tracts,  newspapers,  and  periodicals, 
with  a  view  of  diffusing  religious  information  —  and  for  the 
support  of  their  respective  doctrines  and  creeds.  All  this 
combined  contributed  greatly  to  strengthen  the  bonds  of  the 
Union.  The  ties  w^hich  held  each  denomination  together 
formed  a  strong  cord  to  hold  the  whole  Union  together,  but, 
powerful  as  they  were,  they  have  not  been  able  to  resist  the 
explosive  effect  of  slavery  agitation. 

The  first  of  these  cords  which  snapped  under  its  explosive 
force  was  that  of  the  powerful  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
The  numerous  and  strong  ties  which  held  it  together  are  all 
broken,  and  its  unity  is  gone.  They  now  form  separate 
churches ;  and,  instead  of  that  feeling  of  attachment  and 
devotion  to  the  interests  of  the  whole  church  which  was  for- 
merly felt,  they  are  now  arrayed  into  two  hostile  bodies, 
engaged  in  litigation  about  what  was  formerly  their  common 
property. 

The  next  cord  that  snapped  was  that  of  the  Baptists  — 
one  of  the  largest  and  most  respectable  of  the  denominations. 
That  of  the  Presbyterian  is  not  entirely  snapped,  but  some 
of  its  strands  have  given  way.  That  of  the  Episcopal  Church 
is  the  only  one  of  the  four  great  Protestant  denominations 
which  remains  unbroken  and  entire. 

The  strongest  cord  of  a  political  character  consists  of  the 
many  and  powerful  ties  that  have  held  together  the  two  great 
parties  which  have,  with  some  modifications,  existed  from 
the  beginning  of  the  government.  They  both  extended  to 
every  portion  of  the  Union,  and  strongly  contributed  to  hold 
all  its  parts  together.    But  this  powerful  cord  has  fared  no 


328 


JOHN   CALDWELL  CALHOUN 


better  than  the  spiritual.  It  resisted  for  a  long  time  the 
explosive  tendency  of  the  agitation,  but  has  finally  snapped 
under  its  force  —  if  not  entirely,  iri  a  great  measure.  I^or 
is  there  one  of  the  remaining  cords  which  has  not  been  greatly 
weakened.  To  this  extent  the  Union  has  already  been  de- 
stroyed by  agitation,  in  the  only  way  it  can  be,  by  sundering 
and  weakening  the  cords  which  bind  it  together. 

If  the  agitation  goes  on,  the  same  force,  acting  with 
increased  intensity,  as  has  been  shown,  will  finally  snap 
every  cord,  when  nothing  will  be  left  to  hold  the  States 
together  except  force.  But  surely  that  can  with  no  pro- 
priety of  language  be  called  a  Union  when  the  only  means 
by  which  the  weaker  is  held  connected  with  the  stronger  por- 
tion is  force.  It  may,  indeed,  keep  them  connected ;  but  the 
connection  will  partake  much  more  of  the  character  of  sub- 
jugation on  the  part  of  the  weaker  to  the  stronger  than  the 
union  of  free,  independent,  and  sovereign  States  in  one  con- 
federation, as  they  stood  in  the  early  stages  of  the  govern- 
ment, and  which  only  is  worthy  of  the  sacred  name  of  Union. 

Having  now.  Senators,  explained  what  it  is  that  endangers 
the  Union,  and  traced  it  to  its  cause,  and  explained  its  nature 
and  character,  the  question  again  recurs  —  How  can  the 
Union  be  saved  ?  To  this  I  answer,  there  is  but  one  way  by 
which  it  can  be,  and  that  is  by  adopting  such  measures  as 
will  satisfy  the  States  belonging  to  the  Southern  section  that 
they  can  remain  in  the  Union  consistently  with  their  honor 
and  their  safety.  There  is,  again,  only  one  way  by  which  this 
can  be  effected,  and  that  is  by  removing  the  causes  by  which 
this  belief  has  been  produced.  Do  this,  and  discontent  will 
cease,  harmony  and  kind  feelings  between  the  sections  be 
restored,  and  every  apprehension  of  danger  to  the  Union 
removed.    The  question,  then,  is  —  How  can  this  be  done  ? 


ON  THE  SLAVERY  QUESTION 


329 


But,  before  I  undertake  to  answer  this  question,  1  propose 
to  show  by  what  the  Union  cannot  be  saved. 

It  cannot,  then,  be  saved  by  eulogies  on  the  Union,  how- 
ever splendid  or  numerous.  The  cry  of  Union,  Union,  the 
glorious  Union !  "  can  no  more  prevent  disunion  than  the  cry 
of  Health,  health,  glorious  health !  "  on  ihe  part  of  the 
physician,  can  save  a  patient  lying  dangerously  ill.  So  long 
as  the  Union,  instead  of  being  regarded  as  a  protector,  is 
regarded  in  the  opposite  character  by  not  much  less  than  a 
majority  of  the  States,  it  will  be  in  vain  to  attempt  to  con- 
ciliate them  by  pronouncing  eulogies  on  it. 

Besides,  this  cry  of  Union  comes  commonly  from  those 
whom  we  cannot  believe  to  be  sincere.  It  usually  comes  from 
our  assailants.  But  we  cannot  believe  them  to  be  sincere; 
for,  if  they  loved  the  Union,  they  would  necessarily  be 
devoted  to  the  constitution.  It  made  the  Union, — and  to 
destroy  the  constitution  would  be  to  destroy  the  Union'  But 
the  only  reliable  and  certain  evidence  of  devotion  to  the  con- 
stitution is  to  abstain,  on  the  one  hand,  from  violating  it,  and 
to  repel,  on  the  other,  all  attempts  to  violate  it.  It  is  only  by 
faithfully  performing  these  high  duties  that  the  constitution 
can  be  preserved,  and  with  it  the  Union. 

But  how  stands  the  profession  of  devotion  to  the  Union 
by  our  assailants,  when  brought  to  this  test  ?  Have  they 
abstained  from  violating  the  constitution?  Let  the  many 
acts  passed  by  the  northern  States  to  set  aside  and  annul  the 
clause  of  the  constitution  providing  for  the  delivery  up  of 
fugitive  slaves  answer.  I  cite  this,  not  that  it  is  the  only 
instance  (for  there  are  many  others),  but  because  the  viola- 
tion in  this  particular  is  too  notorious  and  palpable  to  be 
denied  ? 

Again:  Have  they  stood  forth  faithfully  to  repel  viola- 


330 


JOHN  CALDWELL  CALHOUN 


tions  of  the  constitution?  Let  their  course  in  reference  to 
the  agitation  of  the  slavery  question,  which  was  commenced 
and  has  been  carried  on  for  fifteen  years,  avowedly  for  the 
purpose  of  abolishing  slavery  in  the  States  —  an  object  all 
acknowledged  to  be  unconstitutional  —  answer.  Let  them 
show  a  single  instance,  during  this  long  period,  in  which 
they  have  denounced  the  agitators  or  their  attempts  to  effect 
what  is  admitted  to  be  unconstitutional,  or  a  single  measure 
which  they  have  brought  forward  for  that  purpose.  How  can 
we,  with  all  these  facts  before  us,  believe  that  they  are  sin- 
cere in  their  profession  of  devotion  to  the  Union,  or  avoid 
believing  their  profession  is  but  intended  to  increase  the 
vigor  of  their  assaults  and  to  weaken  the  force  of  our 
resistance  ? 

I^OY  can  we  regard  the  profession  of  devotion  to  the 
Union,  on  the  part  of  those  who  are  not  our  assailants, 
as  sincere,  when  they  pronounce  eulogies  upon  the  Union, 
evidently  with  the  intent  of  charging  us  with  disunion, 
without  uttering  one  word  of  denunciation  against  our  assail- 
ants. If  friends  of  the  Union,  their  course  should  be  to  unite 
with  us  in  repelling  these  assaults  and  denouncing  the  authors 
as  enemies  of  the  Union.  Why  they  avoid  this  and  pursue 
the  course  they  do,  it  is  for  them  to  explain. 

'Nor  can  the  Union  be  saved  by  invoking  the  name  of 
the  illustrious  Southerner  whose  mortal  remains  repose  on 
the  western  bank  of  the  Potomac.  He  was  one  of  us  —  a 
slaveholder  and  a  planter.  We  have  studied  his  history 
and  find  nothing  in  it  to  justify  submission  to  wrong.  On  the 
contrary,  his  great  fame  rests  on  the  solid  foundation  that, 
while  he  was  careful  to  avoid  doing  wrong  to  others,  he  was 
prompt  and  decided  in  repelling  wrong.  I  trust  that  in  this 
respect  we  profited  by  his  example. 


ON  THE  SLAVERY  QUESTION  33 1 

'Not  can  we  find  anything  in  his  history  to  deter  us  from 
seceding  from  the  Union  should  it  fail  to  fulfil  the  objects 
for  which  it  was  instituted,  by  being  permanently  and  hope- 
lessly converted  into  the  means  of  oppressing  instead  of  pro- 
tecting us.  On  the  contrary,  we  find  much  in  his  example 
to  encourage  us  should  we  be  forced  to  the  extremity  of 
deciding  between  submission  and  disunion 

There  existed  then,  as  well  as  now,  a  union  —  that  between 
the  parent  country  and  her  then  colonies.  It  was  a  union 
that  had  much  to  endear  it  to  the  people  of  the  colonies. 
Under  its  protecting  and  superintending  care  the  colonies 
were  planted  and  grew  up  and  prospered  through  a  long 
course  of  years,  until  they  became  populous  and  wealthy.  Its 
benefits  were  not  limited  to  them.  Their  extensive  agricul- 
tural and  other  productions  gave  birth  to  a  flourishing  com- 
merce which  richly  rewarded  the  parent  country  for  the 
trouble  and  expense  of  establishing  and  protecting  them. 
Washington  was  born  and  grew  up  to  manhood  under  that 
union.  He  acquired  his  early  distinction  in  its  service,  and 
there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  he  was  devotedly  attached 
to  it.  But  his  devotion  was  a  rational  one.  He  was  attached 
to  it,  not  as  an  end,  but  as  a  means  to  an  end.  "When  it 
failed  to  fulfil  its  end,  and,  instead  of  affording  protection, 
was  converted  into  the  means  of  oppressing  the  colonies,  he 
did  not  hesitate  to  draw  his  sword  and  head  the  great  move- 
ment by  which  that  union  was  forever  severed  and  the  inde- 
pendence of  these  States  established.  This  was  the  great  and 
crowning  glory  of  his  life,  which  has  spread  his  fame  over  the 
whole  globe  and  will  transmit  it  to  the  latest  posterity. 

Nor  can  the  plan  proposed  by  the  distinguished  senator 
from  Kentucky,  nor  that  of  the  administration,  save  the 
Union.    I  shall  pass  by,  without  remark,  the  plan  proposed 


332 


JOHN   CALDWELL  CALHOUN 


by  the  senator,  and  proceed  directly  to  the  consideration  of 
that  of  the  administration.  I,  however,  assure  the  distin- 
guished and  able  senator  that  in  taking  this  course  no  dis- 
respect whatever  is  intended  to  him  or  his  plan.  I  have 
adopted  it  because  so  many  senators  of  distinguished  abilities, 
who  were  present  when  he  delivered  his  speech  and  explained 
his  plan,  and  who  were  fully  capable  to  do  justice  to  the  side 
they  support,  have  replied  to  him. 

The  plan  of  the  administration  cannot  save  the  Union, 
because  it  can  have  no  effect  whatever  towards  satisfying 
the  States  composing  the  southern  section  of  the  Union  that 
they  can,  consistently  with  safety  and  honor,  remain  in  the 
Union.  It  is,  in  fact,  but  a  modification  of  the  Wilmot 
Proviso.  It  proposes  to  effect  the  same  object, —  to  exclude 
the  South  from  all  the  territory  acquired  by  the  Mexican 
treaty.  It  is  well  known  that  the  South  is  united  against 
the  Wilmot  Proviso,  and  has  committed  itself  by  solemn 
resolutions  to  resist  should  it  be  adopted.  Its  opposition  is 
not  to  the  name,  but  that  which  it  proposes  to  effect.  That, 
the  southern  States  hold  to  be  unconstitutional,  unjust,  incon- 
sistent with  their  equality  as  members  of  the  common  Union, 
and  calculated  to  destroy  irretrievably  the  equilibrium 
between  the  two  sections. 

These  objections  equally  apply  to  what,  for  brevity,  I  will 
call  the  Executive  Proviso.  There  is  no  difference  between 
it  and  the  "VVilmot  except  in  the  mode  of  effecting  the  object; 
and  in  that  respect  I  must  say  that  the  latter  is  much  the 
least  objectionable.  It  goes  to  its  object  openly,  boldly,  and 
distinctly.  It  claims  for  Congress  unlimited  power  over  the 
Territories,  and  proposes  to  assert  it  over  Territories  acquired 
from  Mexico,  by  a  positive  prohibition  of  slavery. 

Not  so  the  Executive  Proviso.   It  takes  an  indirect  course, 


ON  THE  SLAVERY  QUESTION 


383 


and  in  order  to  elude  the  Wilmot  Proviso,  and  thereby  avoid 
encountering  the  united  and  determined  resistance  of  the 
South,  it  denies,  by  implication,  the  authority  of  Congress 
to  legislate  for  the  Territories,  and  claims  the  right  as  belong- 
ing exclusively  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  Territories.  But  to 
effect  the  object  of  excluding  the  South,  it  takes  care,  in  the 
meantime,  to  let  in  immigrants  freely  from  the  northern 
States  and  all  other  quarters  except  from  the  South,  which  it 
takes  special  care  to  exclude  by  holding  up  to  them  the  danger 
of  having  their  slaves  liberated  under  the  Mexican  laws.  The 
necessary  consequence  is  to  exclude  the  South  from  the  Terri- 
tory just  as  effectually  as  would  the  Wilmot  Proviso.  The 
only  difference  in  this  respect  is,  that  what  one  proposes  to 
effect  directly  and  openly,  the  other  proposes  to  effect  indi- 
rectly and  covertly.  .  .  . 

Having  now  shown  what  cannot  save  the  Union,  I  return 
to  the  question  with  which  I  commenced, —  How  can  the 
Union  be  saved?  There  is  but  one  way  by  which  it  can  with 
any  certainty;  and  that  is  by  a  full  and  final  settlement,  on 
the  principle  of  justice,  of  all  the  questions  at  issue  between 
the  two  sections.  The  South  asks  for  justice,  simple  justice, 
and  less  she  ought  not  to  take.  She  has  no  compromise  to 
offer  but  the  constitution,  and  no  concession  or  surrender 
to  make.  She  has  already  surrendered  so  much  that  she  has 
little  left  to  surrender.  Such  a  settlement  would  go  to  the 
root  of  the  evil,  and  remove  all  cause  of  discontent,  by  satis- 
fying the  South  that  she  could  remain  honorably  and  safely 
in  the  Union,  and  thereby  restore  the  harmony  and  fraternal 
feelings  between  the  sections  which  existed  anterior  to  the 
Missouri  agitation.  I^othing  else  can,  with  any  certainty, 
finally  and  forever  settle  the  question  at  issue,  terminate  agi- 
tation, and  save  the  Union. 


334 


JOHN   CALDWELL  CALHOUN 


But  can  this  be  done?  Yes,  easily;  not  by  the  weaker 
party,  for  it  can  of  itself  do  nothing  —  not  even  protect  itself 
—  but  by  the  stronger.  The  i^orth  has  only  to  will  it  to 
accomplish  it  —  to  do  justice  by  conceding  to  the  South  an 
equal  right  in  the  acquired  territory,  and  to  do  her  duty  by 
causing  the  stipulations  relative  to  fugitive  slaves  to  be  faith- 
fully fulfilled  —  to  cease  the  agitation  of  the  slave  question, 
and  to  provide  for  the  insertion  of  a  provision  in  the  consti- 
tution, by  an  amendment,  which  will  restore  to  the  South,  in 
substance,  the  power  she  possessed  of  protecting  herself 
before  the  equilibrium  between  the  sections  was  destroyed 
by  the  action  of  this  government.  There  will  be  no  diffi- 
culty in  devising  such  a  provision  —  one  that  will  protect  the 
South,  and  which  at  the  same  time  will  improve  and 
strengthen  the  government  instead  of  impairing  and  weak- 
ening it. 

But  will  the  jN^orth  agree  to  this?  It  is  for  her  to  answer 
the  question.  But,  I  will  say,  she  cannot  refuse  if  she  has 
half  the  love  of  the  Union  which  she  professes  to  have,  or 
without  justly  exposing  herself  to  the  charge  that  her  love  of 
power  and  aggrandizement  is  far  greater  than  her  love  of  the 
Union.  At  all  events,  the  responsibility  of  saving  the  Union 
rests  on  the  i^orth,  and  not  on  the  South.  The  South  cannot 
save  it  by  any  act  of  hers,  and  the  North  may  save  it  without 
any  sacrifice  whatever,  unless  to  do  justice  and  to  perform 
her  duties  under  the  constitution  should  be  regarded  by  her 
as  a  sacrifice. 

It  is  time.  Senators,  that  there  should  be  an  open  and 
manly  avowal  on  all  sides  as  to  what  is  intended  to  be  done. 
If  the  question  is  not  now  settled,  it  is  uncertain  whether  it 
ever  can  hereafter  be;  and  we,  as  the  representatives  of  the 
States  of  this  Union  regarded  as  governments,  should  come  to 


ON  THE  SLAVERY  QUESTION 


335 


a  distinct  understanding  as  to  our  respective  views,  in  order 
to  ascertain  whether  the  great  questions  at  issue  can  be  set- 
tled or  not.  If  you,  who  represent  the  stronger  portion, 
cannot  agree  to  settle  them  on  the  broad  principle  of  justice 
and  duty,  say  so;  and  let  the  States  we  both  represent  agree 
to  separate  and  part  in  peace. 

If  you  are  unwilling  we  should  part  in  peace,  tell  us  so: 
and  we  shall  know  what  to  do  when  you  reduce  the  question 
to  submission  or  resistance.  If  you  remain  silent,  you  will 
compel  us  to  infer  by  your  acts  what  you  intend.  In  that 
case  California  will  become  the  test  question.  If  you  admit 
her  under  all  the  difficulties  that  oppose  her  admission,  you 
compel  us  to  infer  that  you  intend  to  exclude  us  from  the 
whole  of  the  acquired  Territories,  with  the  intention  of 
destroying  irretrievably  the  equilibrium  between  the  two  sec- 
tions. We  should  be  blind  not  to  perceive  in  that  case  that 
your  real  objects  are  power  and  aggrandizement,  and  infatu- 
ated, not  to  act  accordingly. 

I  have  now.  Senators,  done  my  duty  in  expressing  my  opin- 
ions fully,  freely,  and  candidly  on  this  solemn  occasion.  In 
doing  so  I  have  been  governed  b}^  the  motives  which  have 
governed  me  in  all  the  stages  of  the  agitation  of  the  slavery 
question  since  its  commencement.  I  have  exerted  myself 
during  the  whole  period  to  arrest  it,  with  the  intention  of 
saving  the  Union  if  it  could  be  done;  and  if  it  could  not,  to 
save  the  section  where  it  has  pleased  Providence  to  cast  my 
lot,  and  which  I  sincerely  believe  has  justice  and  the  consti- 
tution on  its  side.  Having  faithfully  done  my  duty  to  the 
best  of  my  ability,  both  to  the  Union  and  my  section,  through- 
out this  agitation,  I  shall  have  the  consolation,  let  what  will 
come,  that  I  am  free  from  all  responsibility. 


LEWIS  CASS 


EWis  Cass,  American  statesman  and  soldier,  was  born  at  Exeter,  N.  H., 
Oct.  29,  1782,  and  died  at  Detroit,  Mich.,  June  17,  1866.  Studying  law 
he  began,  in  1802,  the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Zanesville,  O. 
Entering  the  army  at  the  opening  of  the  second  war  with  England,  he 
served  in  Canada  under  General  Hull  and  was  taken  prisoner.  After  his  release  he 
was  raised  to  the  rank  of  brigadier-general,  and  settled  in  what  was  then  called 
Michigan  Territory,  and  in  1814  became  its  Governor  for  a  period  of  sixteen  years. 
In  1831,  he  was  appointed  Secretary  of  War,  was  sent  as  minister  to  France  in  1836, 
and  while  abroad  was  instrumental  in  preventing  France  from  joining  the  "quintuple 
alliance,"  designed  to  enforce  English  claims  to  right  of  search  on  the  high  seas. 
Resigning  his  post  in  1842,  he  returned  home,  and  from  1844  to  1857  was  Senator 
from  Michigan,  and  in  1848  an  unsuccessful  candidate  for  the  Presidency.  He  en- 
tered Buchanan's  cabinet  in  1857  as  Secretary  of  State,  but  resigned  that  position 
in  1860,  owing  to  the  President's  refusal  to  re-inforce  the  garrison  of  Fort  Sumter. 
His  political  career  was  marked  alike  by  success  and  popularity.  He  inclined  strongly 
toward  the  pro-slavery  party  until  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  in  1861,  but  after 
that  he  warmly  supported  the  Union  cause.  He  was  the  author  of  "An  Inquiry 
respecting  the  History,  Traditions,  and  Languages  of  the  Indians  in  the  United 
States"  (1826);  and  "France,  Its  King,  Court,  and  Government"  (1840).  His  life 
has  been  written  by  at  least  three  biographers. 

ON  THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  AGE 

DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE  ASSOCIATION  OF  THE  ALUMNI  OF 
HAMILTON  COLLEGE.  AUGUST  25.  1830 

THIS  is  not  an  age  of  speculation,  but  of  action.  Knowl- 
edge is  spreading  from  nation  to  nation,  bringing 
all  within  the  sphere  of  its  operation.  Its  immedi- 
ate tendency  is  to  reduce  the  artificial  distinctions  which 
time  and  power  have  created,  and  to  establish  a  common 
standard  of  virtue  and  intelligence.  By  this  standard 
princes  and  people  must  be  judged.  We  cannot  be  idle  spec- 
tators of  these  efforts  and  their  effects.  We  are  connected 
with  other  nations  by  ties  of  intercourse  not  easily  severed ; 
and  we  are  ourselves  deeply  interested  in  the  operation  of 
(836) 


ON  THE    SPIRIT    OF    THE  AGE 


337 


those  causes  which  can  meliorate  the  condition  of  mankind, 
either  in  their  social,  political,  or  moral  relations ;  which  can 
add  stability  to  our  institutions,  prosperity  to  our  country, 
contentment  to  our  citizens.  And  of  all  these  causes  the 
progress  of  knowledge  is  the  life-preserving  principle; 
not  its  advancement  merely  in  the  various  branches  of 
human  investigation,  whether  active  or  speculative,  but 
still  more  its  general  diffusion  among  all  classes  of  all 
nations. 

And  it  may  not  be  unprofitable  in  itself,  nor  unsuitable  to 
the  present  occasion,  briefly  to  examine  the  consequences 
which  have  resulted,  and  are  yet  to  result,  from  the  applica- 
tion of  this  great  moral  power.  We  shall  find  that  it  is 
operating  with  resistless  energy  upon  the  political  institu- 
tions, the  social  state,  and  the  intellectual  condition  of 
mankind. 

And  I  propose  succinctly  to  review  the  effects  it  has  already 
produced  upon  these  great  departments  of  life,  and  to  survey 
the  prospect  which  it  offers  for  the  future ;  and  then  to  con- 
sider the  duty  and  importance  of  promoting  its  operations 
by  all  the  means  in  our  power,  and  particularly  by  an 
enlarged  and  vigorous  system  of  education.  If  any  observa- 
tions can  place  in  bolder  relief  the  value  of  education  or  the 
consequence  of  the  establishments  devoted  to  its  acquisition, 
imperfectly  as  the  task  may  be  executed  they  may  not  be 
wholly  uninteresting  to  you. 

Upon  this  foimdation  the  great  fabric  of  freedom  must 
rest ;  and  more  fortunate  than  those  who  erected  a  monument 
of  folly  upon  the  plains  of  Shinar,  we  may  hope  that  it  will 
be  a  tower  of  refuge  for  our  country  should  the  fountains  of 
power  be  broken  up  and  descend  upon  us. 

The  golden  age  of  the  poets  is  the  iron  age  of  govern- 

Vol.  5—22 


338  LEWIS  CASS 

ments.  The  relative  duties  of  protection  and  submission  are 
slowly  learned,  and  it  was  not  until  after  the  lapse  of  ages 
and  the  progress  of  society  that  rulers  and  people  perceived, 
if  power  in  the  hands  of  a  few  were  the  means,  the  benefit  of 
all  was  the  object. 

An  ancient  historian,  who  wrote  when  the  fortunes  and 
intellect  of  Rome  were  the  brightest,  while  speaking  of  the 
ascendency  gained  by  Egyptian  priests,  an  ascendency  which 
held  the  monarch  in  captivity  without  granting  freedom  to 
the  people,  remarks  that  it  was  indeed  strange  that  the 
king  should  not  be  left  at  liberty  in  regard  to  his  daily  food ; 
but  it  was  still  more  extraordinary  that  he  could  not  punish 
any  man  to  gratify  his  humor  or  passion.''  Such  sentiments 
indicate  but  too  clearly  the  notions  then  entertained  of  the 
kingly  office. 

But  as  the  great  mass  of  mankind  is  instructed,  and  public 
opinion  enlightened,  a  moral  force  is  exerted  which  govern- 
ments dare  not  resist.  The  schoolmaster  is  a  more  powerful 
antagonist  than  the  soldier,  and  the  alphabet  a  more  effi- 
cient weapon  than  the  bayonet.  The  nations  of  Christendom 
are  members  of  one  great  family.  Such  is  the  intercourse  of 
commerce  and  science  that  the  proceedings  of  every  govern- 
ment are  observed,  discussed,  and  judged  throughout  the 
civilized  world.  If  a  hostile  gun  is  fired  upon  the  Danube, 
the  echo  is  heard  upon  the  Mississippi.  If  the  Egyptian, 
reversing  the  tide  of  ancient  conquest,  plant  the  crescent  upon 
the  Parthenon,  sweeping  over  the  land  of  Miltiades  and  Aris- 
tides  with  a  spirit  of  ruthless  barbarism  which  leaves  to 
Greece  neither  the  evidence  of  her  past  civilization  nor  the 
hopes  of  her  future,  neither  her  monuments  nor  her  chil- 
dren, her  sufferings  are  felt  and  deplored  wherever  our  coun- 
trymen have  subdued  the  forest  or  reclaimed  the  prairie. 


ON  THE    SPIRIT    OF    THE  AGE 


339 


Where  is  the  man  so  elevated  as  not  to  quail  before  this 
universal  gaze  ?  Even  the  wayward  child  of  fortune  who 
was  insulated  in  his  career  and  fate  no  less  than  in  the 
scenes  of  his  birth  and  death  fell  before  the  public  opinion  of 
Europe  which  he  had  despised  and  provoked.  The  banners 
of  the  Continental  princes  would  never  have  crossed  the 
Rhine  had  not  the  spirit  of  their  people  been  roused ;  and 
among  the  remarkable  events  of  that  portentous  era,  when 
Europe  armed  itself  against  France,  there  was  nothing  which 
marked  the  aspect  of  the  times  more  strongly  than  the  zeal 
everywhere  displayed  by  the  people.  They  marched  in  the 
van  of  their  governments,  and  actually  forced  their  way  to 
war. 

A  higher  standard  of  public  and  political  morals  has  been 
established  by  this  general  censorship.  And  if  the  hereditary 
rulers  of  the  eastern  hemisphere  are  not  more  virtuous  than 
their  predecessors,  their  conduct  is  more  guarded;  nor  is 
public  sentiment  any  longer  outraged  by  scenes  rivalling  the 
profligacy  of  Tiberius  in  tlie  island  of  Caprea. 

In  the  diffusion  of  political  information  the  periodical  press 
is  the  great  instrument  of  modem  times.  The  wish  of 
Archimedes  is  realized,  and  a  place  is  found  where  the  world 
can  be  moved.  Only  a  century  and  a  half  has  passed  away 
since  the  introduction  of  newspapers,  and  during  many  years 
their  progress  was  slow  and  doubtful.  In  their  infancy  there 
was  little  to  commend  them  to  public  regard.  They  were 
mere  chronicles  of  passing  events,  recording  everything  with 
equal  gravity,  whether  trifling  or  important.  There  were  no 
enlarged  views,  no  interesting  speculations,  no  elaborate  dis- 
cussions, political  or  statistical.  But  as  they  attained  matu- 
rity their  character  gradually  changed,  and  they  became, 
what  they  now  are,  the  repositories  of  all  that  is  important  in 


340 


LEWIS  CASS 


the  progress  of  human  affairs,  and  of  much  that  is  valuable 
in  science  and  literature. 

Their  duration  is  now  be^^ond  the  reach  of  fraud  or  force. 
In  India,  in  Iceland,  in  Australasia,  at  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  in  regions  first  known  to  history,  and  in  those  which 
history  has  yet  to  visit,  these  periodical  messengers  are  sent 
abroad  to  instruct,  to  restrain,  and  to  punish.  Knowledge 
is  diffused  with  certainty,  promptness,  and  economy.  The 
conduct  of  rulers  is  scrutinized,  the  course  of  their  policy  is 
investigated,  a  moving  map  of  the  world  is  spread  before  the 
community,  and  literature,  science,  and  the  arts  are  carried 
to  the  remotest  verge  of  civilization.  In  republics  they  are 
the  safeguards  of  freedom;  in  monarchies  they  are  jealous 
sentinels,  prompt  to  discern  and  fearless  to  announce 
approaching  danger;  and  in  all  governments  they  are  the 
nerves  which  convey  sensation  through  the  political  body. 

Benefits,  when  common,  are  rarely  appreciated,  and  the 
natural  elements  around  us  are  among  the  choicest  blessings 
of  life,  which  we  enjoy  without  reflection,  but  which  we  could 
not  lose  without  destruction.  If  the  periodical  press,  with  its 
rich  treasures  of  intelligence  and  science,  were  struck  from 
existence,  we  should  then  know  how  much  we  had  possessed 
by  feeling  how  much  we  had  lost. 

Had  this  great  source  of  public  instruction  and  information 
existed  in  the  Old  World,  how  different  might  have  been  its 
destiny  and  how  rich  the  lessons  of  experience  transmitted  to 
us!  How  precious  would  be  a  newspaper  printed  at  the 
epoch,  of  some  of  those  memorable  events  which  have  come 
down  to  us  in  "  thoughts  that  breathe  and  words  that  burn." 
A  gazette  of  Sparta  or  of  Athens,  when  Xerxes  was  upon  the 
Hellespont  or  Leonidas  at  Thermopylae,  would  be  a  treasure 
far  beyond  the  marble  monuments  which  yet  look  out  upon 


ON   THE    SPIRIT    OF    THE  AGE 


341 


the  ruins  around  them.  The  hopes,  the  fears,  the  efforts,  the 
sacrifices  of  Greece  would  be  before  us,  not  disguised  in  the 
impassioned  strains  of  her  poets,  nor  in  the  eloquent  but 
partial  narratives  of  her  historians,  but  as  they  marked  the 
approaching  danger  and  the  alterations  of  popular  feeling. 
And  with  equal  interest  should  we  gaze  upon  a  similar  monu- 
ment of  the  literature  and  fortunes  of  Rome  when  domestic 
discord  or  foreign  armies  shook  her  power  but  not  her  reso- 
lution ;  when  her  citizens  retreated  to  the  sacred  mount  or  her 
great  Carthaginian  enemy  swept  her  eagles  from  the  field  of 
Cannae. 

It  is  impossible  to  look  upon  those  great  events,  familiar  to 
us  from  infancy,  but  seen  through  a  mirage  which  distorts 
while  it  magnifies,  without  being  sensible  of  the  absence  of 
many  of  those  peculiar  traits  which  give  life  to  the  picture 
of  modern  times.  The  orators,  statesmen,  and  philosophers, 
are  actors  upon  a  stage,  dressed  in  theatrical  costume,  and 
performing  the  parts  assigned  them.  But  of  their  private 
lives,  of  their  peculiar  opinions  and  feelings,  of  the  general 
state  of  society,  and  of  the  moving  incidents  which  appealed 
to  all  and  swayed  all,  little  has  been  recorded  and  little  can 
be  known. 

Of  general  facts  we  have  enough,  and  more  than  enough. 
Armies  and  battles  and  victories  are  forever  before  us,  as 
though  we  had  nothing  to  learn  but  the  splendor  of  conquest 
and  the  utter  disregard  in  which  human  life  was  held.  All 
that  is  wanting  to  complete  our  knowledge  of  antiquity,  these 
publications  would  have  furnished.  We  should  have  entered 
the  private  dwellings  of  those  who,  twenty  centuries  ago, 
were  as  anxious  about  the  cares  of  this  life  as  we  are.  Their 
domestic  circles  would  have  been  open  to  us,  their  conjugal, 
and  parental,  and  filial  relations  disclosed,  and  the  whole 


342 


LEWIS  CASS 


constitution  of  their  society  revealed.  The  meagre  details 
of  manners  and  customs  now  gleaned  from  the  comic  writers 
would  be  disregarded  in  the  general  view  presented  to  us. 
Time  would  be  annihilated,  as  the  steam-engine  is  annihilat- 
ing space;  and  nations  as  remote  in  age  as  in  position  would 
be  brought  together. 

But  these  are  advantages  peculiar  to  the  age  in  which  we 
live.  The  invention  of  Cadmus  still  retains  all  its  value,  but 
it  is  almost  the  only  debt  whi<?h  the  diffusion  of  modem 
knowledge  owes  to  the  genius  of  antiquity.  And  when  we 
recall  the  circumstances  which  formerly  retarded  the  progress 
of  letters  we  may  well  be  surprised  that  so  much  was  done  for 
the  great  cause  of  literature;  and  that  in  history,  in  poetry, 
in  elocution,  the  works  which  have  descended  to  us  yet  excite 
the  admiration  of  mankind.  They  are  models  for  imitation 
rather  than  efforts  to  be  equalled.  The  slow  and  expensive 
process  by  which  alone  manuscripts  could  be  multiplied 
necessarily  limited  the  circulation  of  works  to  the  wealthier 
portion  of  society;  and  it  is  recorded  that  for  three  small 
treatises  Plato  paid  a  sum  equal  to  sixteen  hundred  dollars 
of  our  money.  When  the  field  of  fame  was  thus  limited, 
only  an  ardent  devotion  to  literature  could  stimulate  to  exer- 
tion. Greece  indeed  offered,  in  one  of  her  institutions,  a 
noble  theatre  for  display;  and  when  all  that  was  wise,  and 
learned,  and  venerable,  through  her  confederated  States, 
assembled  at  the  Olympic  games  and  listened  to  the  poets 
and  historians  who  recited  their  admirable  productions,  life 
could  afford  no  reward  more  grateful  or  enduring. 

In  our  own  country  we  may  attribute  the  general  progress 
of  political  information  to  the  introduction  of  periodical  pub- 
lications and  to  the  admirable  system  of  posts  by  which  they 
are  distributed  to  every  portion  of  the  republic.    Our  country 


ON  THE    SPIRIT    OF    THE  AGE 


343 


is  intersected  in  all  directions  by  routes  along  which  the 
depositaries  of  intelligence  are  conveyed.  From  the  Lakes  to 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  from  the  Penobscot  to  the  Missouri, 
these  avenues  of  knowledge  are  pouring  out  their  rich  treas- 
ures before  the  community. 

The  tenant  of  the  remotest  log  cabin  upon  the  very  verge 
of  civilization  is  within  the  reach  of  newspapers  recording  the 
passing  history  of  the  world.  The  able  debate  which  at 
the  last  session  of  Congress  fixed  the  eyes  of  the  nation  upon 
the  Senate  was  watched  with  equal  anxiety  in  every  part 
of  the  land.  The  talents  and  opinions  of  those  who  mingled 
in  the  controversy  were  as  well  known  upon  the  frontiers  as 
at  the  capitol.  The  grave  questions  of  constitutional  law,  so 
elaborately  discussed,  furnished  topics  of  conversation  and 
argument  throughout  the  confederacy.  This  general  spirit 
of  inquiry,  co-operating  with  the  facility  afforded  for  its 
indulgence,  renders  the  whole  body  of  our  citizens  spectators 
of  the  proceedings  of  the  government.  The  walls  of  the 
capitol  are  in  effect  broken  down,  and  the  national  represen- 
tatives perform  their  duties  upon  a  vast  arena  where  their 
measures  are  all  visible  to  those  who  gave,  and  can  take  from 
them,  their  political  life.  It  is  difficult  to  estimate  too  highly 
the  effect  of  this  surveillance  upon  the  character  and  dura- 
tion of  the  institutions  of  our  country. 

But  through  the  great  commonwealth  of  nations  these 
causes  are  everywhere  in  operation.  Representative  bodies 
are  gaining  strength  where  they  exist,  and  they  are  coming 
into  existence  where  they  have  heretofore  been  unknown. 
With  the  knowledge  of  their  rights  comes  the  feeling  of  their 
strength.  The  uses  and  abuses  of  governments  are  now 
freely  investigated,  and  men  begin  to  wonder  that  they  have 
so  long  submitted  to  unjust  pretensions  founded  neither  in 


344 


LEWIS  CASS 


reason  nor  utility,  neither  in  tlie  good  they  promise  nor  in 
that  which  they  perform. 

Time  and  opinion  sanctify  many  errors,  and  the  "pomp 
and  circumstance''  of  a  throne  have  often  preserved  the 
authority,  if  not  the  life,  of  the  occupant.  But  he  who  raised 
thrones  and  demolished  them  as  easily  as  he  fought  battles 
and  gained  them  said  —  and  the  lesson  is  now  spreading 
through  the  world  —  that  they  were  wooden  seats  covered 
with  velvet.''  Their  splendid  drapery  cannot  much  longer 
conceal  the  truth. 

It  would  be  arrogant  for  us  to  judge  what  forms  of  govern- 
ment are  best  suited  to  the  condition  of  the  European  states ; 
and  we  should  contradict  many  of  the  lessons  which  history 
has  furnished  were  we  to  affirm  that  monarchies,  properly 
administered,  cannot  protect  the  rights  and  promote  the  hap- 
piness of  their  people.  But  we  may  well  look  forward  to 
the  time  when  such  governments,  restrained  by  limitations 
they  cannot  pass,  and  acknowledging  the  influence  of  public 
opinion,  shall  exercise  their  powers  in  a  spirit  of  justice  and 
forbearance.    And  that  time  must  come,  and  come  speedily. 

It  has  been  said,  and  with  some  truth,  that  the  affairs  of 
no  nation  can  be  very  badly  administered  where  a  body  of 
men,  no  matter  how  constituted  or  by  whom  elected,  have  the 
right  to  assemble,  and  freely  and  publicly  investigate  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  government.  But  how  much  more  efficacious 
are  the  general  extension  of  education,  and  the  productions  of 
the  press  ?  Instead  of  receiving  impressions  from  those  who 
are  too  often  interested  in  the  prevalence  of  erroneous  ones, 
an  enlightened  community  forms  impressions  for  itself.  For 
a  time  the  ramparts  erected  in  many  countries  against  this 
great  enemy  of  arbitrary  power  may  prevent  the  approach 
of  instruction  and  information.    But  these  defences  must 


ON  THE    SPIRIT    OF    THE  AGE 


345 


give  way.  They  will  fall,  as  many  prouder  monuments  have 
fallen ;  and  knowledge,  freedom,  and  science  will  march  over 
them ;  not  as  the  northern  nations  entered  the  capital  of  the 
world,  to  enslave  and  destroy,  but  to  redeem,  to  enlighten, 
and  to  protect.  Even  the  great  Russian  Iceberg,  which  is 
already  the  terror  of  Europe,  has  felt  the  genial  influence  of 
knowledge  and  science,  and  let  us  hope  it  will  dissolve  beneath 
their  power  before  it  reaches  the  plains  of  France  and  Italy. 

Signs  of  approaching  change  begin  to  be  visible  among  the 
votaries  of  Islamism,  and  happy  will  it  be  for  the  nations 
professing  that  faith  if  they  can  be  brought  to  perceive  their 
moral  and  political  degradation;  to  exchange  the  pilgrimage 
to  Mecca  for  excursions  into  the  regions  of  knowledge  and 
science.  We  might  then  hope  that  the  stern  character  of 
Mahmoud  would  regenerate  the  descendants  of  those  mighty 
warriors  who  subdued  the  Empire  of  the  East,  and  carried 
their  horsetails  to  the  capital  of  the  West. 

JSTor  can  we  be  indifferent  to  the  progress  of  the  fortunate 
soldier  who  sits  upon  the  throne  of  the  Pharaohs.  Centuries 
of  darkness  and  servitude  have  rested  upon  the  land  of  the 
Nile ;  the  cradle  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  it  has  long  been 
their  tomb.  Its  history,  like  the  source  of  the  mighty  rivei* 
which  gives  it  fertility,  eludes  our  research,  and  its  monu- 
ments have  survived  the  memory  of  their  founders  and  the 
objects  of  their  construction.  Even  here  the  light  of  knowl- 
edge is  penetrating;  and  its  pyramids  may  yet  be  gilded  by 
the  setting  rays  of  the  sun  of  science,  as  in  the  infancy  of  the 
world  they  were  gilded  by  its  rising  beams. 

And  Greece,  too,  is  awakening  from  the  slumber  of  ages. 
She  has  cast  from  her  the  incubus  of  Turkish  despotism,  and 
is  again  displaying  that  standard  which  triumphed  at  Mara- 
thon and  Salamis.    And  who  has  not  deplored  her  sufferings 


346 


LEWIS  CASS 


and  rejoiced  at  her  emancipation?  And  what  prouder  tri- 
umph have  knowledge  and  science  ever  gained  than  the 
imperishable  fame  which  the  deeds  of  her  statesmen  and  war- 
riors, the  works  of  her  artists,  and  the  productions  of  her 
poets  and  historians  and  philosophers,  have  conferred  upon 
the  land  of  Homer,  of  Aristides,  and  of  Epaminondas?  A 
region  of  country  not  larger  than  some  of  our  counties  has 
rivetted  the  attention  of  the  world  for  twenty  centuries.  To 
this  day  our  earliest  recollections  are  given  to  her  history, 
our  earliest  associations  to  her  fame  and  fortune.  In  boy- 
hood we  study  the  story  of  her  rise  and  fall ;  in  manhood  we 
deduce  from  it  lessons  of  practical  wisdom;  and  in  age  we 
revert  to  it  as  an  interesting  chapter  in  the  general  history  of 
the  human  family. 

And  in  our  own  hemisphere  this  great  moral  agent  is  pro- 
claiming from  the  summit  of  the  Andes  the  value  of  free 
institutions,  and  is  teaching  the  descendants  of  Montezuma 
and  the  Incas  that  where  political  knowledge  begins  political 
servitude  ends.  The  pillars  of  Castile  and  Leon  have  been 
broken,  and  although  the  agitations  of  the  storm  have  not  yet 
subsided,  we  may  still  hope  that  the  progress  of  knowledge 
will  be  sufficiently  rapid  and  general  to  prevent  its  return. 
The  human  mind  does  not  suddenly  yield  to  new  impressions. 
Opinions  and  moral  habits  engrafted  upon  society  and 
transmitted  through  a  long  succession  of  ages  become  a  part 
of  the  social  constitution. 

When  they  are  injurious  or  dangerous,  rash  empiricism 
may  prescribe  violent  remedies,  but  the  prudent  physician 
will  leave  much  to  time  and  nature.  From  the  Rio  del  ]N"orte 
to  the  Straits  of  Magellan,  during  three  centuries  of  religious 
intolerance  and  civil  misgovernment,  political  knowledge  has 
been  excluded,  with  jealous  care,  from  the  Spanish  colonies. 


ON  THE    SPIRIT    OF    THE  AGE 


347 


And  now,  when  like  the  strong  man  of  Israel  they  have 
shaken  off  the  fetters  which  bound  them,  and  are  reorganizing 
their  institutions  and  laying  the  foundations  of  information 
and  instruction,  let  us  not  reproach  them  that  their  progress 
is  slow  and  doubtful. 

Our  fathers  resisted  the  approach  rather  than  the  presence 
of  oppression.  It  was  not  what  they  suffered  that  drove 
them  to  arms,  so  much  as  the  apprehension  of  what  they 
might  suffer  if  the  plans  of  the  mother  country  were  matured 
and  accomplished.  But  the  cannon  of  Hidalgo  broke  the 
silence  of  despotism.  It  roused  a  people  who  had  long  slum- 
bered in  ignorance  and  oppression;  who,  knowing  neither 
their  rights  nor  their  strength,  were  suddenly  called  to  expel 
their  rulers  and  to  reconstruct  their  political  edifice.  Well 
might  they  seek  in  vain  for  artists  to  plan  and  for  mechanics 
to  build.  Knowledge  comes  with  time,  generally  with  labor, 
frequently  with  suffering.  Of  labor  and  suffering  they 
have  had  enough;  may  time  bring  with  it  their  reward.  But 
if  in  all  the  elements  of  knowledge  we  were  more  fortunate 
than  our  southern  brethren,  we  were  not  less  fortunate  in  him 
who  first  led  our  armies  in  war  and  then  guided  our  councils 
in  peace.  He  was  admirably  suited  to  the  circumstances  of 
his  age  and  country,  and  they  to  him.  His  fame  is  com- 
mitted to  time,  his  example  to  mankind,  and  himself,  we 
humbly  hope,  to  the  reward  of  the  righteous.  Let  no  man 
whose  career  and  fate  have  not  been  sealed  by  death  claim 
or  receive  the  title  of  Washington. 


LORD  PALMERSTON 


ENRY  John  Temple,  Viscount  Palmerston,  a  popular  English  staten- 
man  and  prime  minister,  was  born  at  Broadlands,  Hants,  Oct.  20, 
1784,  and  died  near  Hatfield,  Hertfordshire,  Oct.  18,  1865.  Edu- 
cated at  Harrow,  Edinburgh,  and  Cambridge,  he  entered  Parliament 
in  1807,  and  in  the  Tory  administration  of  the  Duke  of  Portland  he  became  a 
junior  lord  of  the  admiralty,  and  from  1809  to  1828  filled  the  office,  in  succes- 
sive ministries,  of  secretary  of  war.  Though  allied  with  the  Tories  he  advo- 
cated Catholic  Emancipation  and  gave  the  measure  his  warmest  support.  Later 
on,  he  espoused  Liberal  opinions,  and  after  accepting  the  post  of  foreign  sec- 
retary in  Earl  Grey's  cabinet  he  became  one  of  the  acknowledged  leaders  of  the 
progressive  party,  an  imperialist  (as  we  should  say  to-day),  in  his  policy  toward 
foreign  governments,  yet  a  statesman  of  advanced  and  enlightened  views.  In  Lord 
Aberdeen's  coalition  ministry  he  became  home  secretary,  and  when  the  Crimean 
War  broke  out,  he  urged  alliance  with  France  against  Russia  and  the  immediate 
siege  of  Sebastopol.  When  the  Aberdeen  government  fell,  Palmerston  became  Pre- 
mier, and  with  a  short  interlude  he  held  the  reigns  of  government  until  his  death 
in  his  eighty-first  year.  His  administration  was  singularly  able,  and  on  the  whole 
just,  especially  in  its  attitude  of  strict  neutrality  toward  this  country  in  the  crisis 
of  the  Civil  War.  He  had  great  tact  in  his  management  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, his  pleasantries,  good  temper,  and  jauntiness  smoothing  the  path  of  govern- 
ment, and  earning  for  him  a  well-deserved  popularity.  He  possessed  at  the  same 
time  much  firmness  and  was  known  as  a  strict  disciplinarian. 

ON  THE  AFFAIRS  OF  GREECE 

DELIVERED  IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS.  JUNE  25.  1850 

SIR, — Anxious  as  many  members  are  to  deliver  their  sen- 
timents upon  this  most  important  question,  yet  I  am 
sure  they  will  feel  that  it  is  due  to  myself,  that  it  is  due 
to  this  House,  that  it  is  due  to  the  country,  that  I  should  not 
permit  the  second  night  of  this  debate  to  close  without  having 
stated  to  the  House  my  views  upon  the  matters  in  question 
and  my  explanation  of  that  part  of  my  conduct  for  which  I 
have  been  called  to  account. 

Wlien  I  say  that  this  is  an  important  question  I  say  it  in 
(348) 


LORD  PALMERSTON 


ON  THE  AFFAIRS  OF  GREECE 


349 


the  fullest  expressioii  of  the  term.  It  is  a  matter  which  con- 
cerns not  merely  the  tenure  of  office  by  one  individual,  or  even 
by  a  government;  it  is  a  question  that  involves  principles  of 
national  policy  and  the  deepest  interests  as  well  as  the  honor 
and  dignity  of  England.  I  cannot  think  that  the  course  which 
has  been  pursued,  and  by  which  this  question  has  assumed  its 
present  shape^  is  becoming  those  by  whose  act  it  has  been 
brought  under  the  discussion  of  Parliament,  or  such  as  fitting 
the  gravity  and  the  importance  of  the  matters  which  they  have 
thus  led  this  House  and  the  other  House  of  Parliament  to 
discuss. 

For  if  that  party  in  this  country  imagine  that  they  are 
strong  enough  to  carry  the  government  by  storm,  and  to  take 
possession  of  the  citadel  of  office;  or  if,  without  intending  to 
measure  their  strength  with  that  of  their  opponents,  they  con- 
ceive that  there  are  matters  of  such  gravity  connected  with  the 
conduct  of  the  government  that  it  becomes  their  duty  to  call 
upon  Parliament  solemnly  to  record  its  disapprobation  of  what 
has  passed,  I  think  that  either  in  the  one  case  or  in  the  other 
that  party  ought  not  to  have  been  contented  with  obtaining 
the  expression  of  the  opinion  of  the  House  of  Lords,  but  they 
ought  to  have  sent  down  their  resolution  for  the  consent  and 
concurrence  of  this  House;  or,  at  least,  those  who  act  Avith 
them  in  political  co-operation  here  should  themselves  have 
proposed  to  this  House  to  come  to  a  similar  resolution. 

But,  be  the  road  what  it  may,  we  have  come  to  the  same 
end;  and  the  'House  is  substantially  consideiing  whether  they 
will  adopt  the  resolution  of  the  House  of  Lords,  or  the  resolu- 
tion which  has  been  submitted  to  them  by  my  honorable  and 
learned  friend  the  member  for  Sheffield  [Mr.  Roebuck]. 

'Now,  the  resolution  of  the  House  of  Lords  involves  the 
future  as  well  as  the  past.    It  lays  down  for  the  future  a  prin- 


350 


LORD  PALMERSTON 


ciple  of  national  policy  which  I  consider  totally  incompatible 
with  the  interests,  with  the  rights,  with  the  honor,  and  with 
the  dignity  of  the  country;  and  at  variance  with  the  practice, 
not  only  of  this,  but  of  all  other  civilized  countries  in  the 
world.  Even  the  person  who  moved  it  was  obliged  essentially 
to  modify  it  in  his  speech.  But  none  of  the  modifications  con- 
tained in  the  speech  were  introduced  into  the  resolution 
adopted  by  the  other  House. 

The  country  is  told  that  British  subjects  in  foreign  lands  arc 
entitled — for  that  is  the  meaning  of  the  resolution — to  noth- 
ing but  the  protection  of  the  laws  and  the  tribunals  of  the  land 
in  which  they  happen  to  reside.  The  country  is  told  that 
British  subjects  abroad  must  not  look  to  their  own  country  for 
protection,  but  must  trust  to  that  indifferent  justice  which 
they  may  happen  to  receive  at  the  hands  of  the  government 
and  tribunals  of  the  country  in  which  they  may  be. 

The  House  of  Lords  has  not  said  that  this  proposition  is 
limited  to  constitutional  countries.  The  House  of  Lords  has 
not  said  that  the  proposition  is  inapplicable,  not  only  to  arbi- 
trary and  despotic  countries,  but  even  to  constitutional  coun- 
tries where  the  courts  of  justice  are  not  free;  although  these 
limitations  were  stated  in  the  speech.  The  country  is  simply 
informed  by  the  resolution,  as  it  was  adopted,  that,  so  far  as 
foreign  nations  are  concerned,  the  future  rule  of  the  govern- 
ment of  England  is  to  be  that  in  all  cases  and  under  all  cir- 
cumstances British  subjects  are  to  have  that  protection  only 
which  the  law  and  the  tribunals  of  the  land  in  which  they 
happen  to  be  may  give  them. 

Now,  I  deny  that  proposition;  and  I  say  it  is  a  doctrine  on 
which  no  British  minister  ever  yet  has  acted,  and  on  which 
the  people  of  England  never  will  suffer  any  British  minister 
to  act.    Do  I  mean  to  say  that  British  subjects  abroad  are  to 


ON  THE  AFFAIRS  OF  GREECE 


351 


be  above  the  law,  or  are  to  be  taken  out  of  the  scope  of  the 
laws  of  the  land  in  which  they  live?  I  mean  no  such  thing; 
I  contend  for  no  such  principle.  Undoubtedly,  in  the  first 
instance,  British  subjects  are  bound  to  have  recourse  for 
redress  to  the  means  which  the  law  of  the  land  affords  them, 
when  that  law  is  available  for  such  purpose.  That  is  the 
opinion  which  the  legal  advisers  of  the  Ctown  have  given  in 
numerous  cases;  and  it  is  the  opinion  on  which  we  have 
founded  our  replies  to  many  applications  for  our  interposition 
in  favor  of  British  subjects  abroad. 

And  allow  me,  at  the  first  moment  when  I  have  occasion  to 
mention  the  legal  advisers  of  the  Crown,  to  say  that  I  heard 
with  pain  aspersions  cast  from  a  quarter  from  which  they 
ought  not  to  have  come,  upon  the  person  who  is  the  legal 
adviser  of  the  ofiice  which  I  have  the  honor  to  hold.  I  should 
have  thought  that  a  person  who  by  his  own  experience  must 
have  known,  not  only  the  learning,  but  the  independence  of 
mind  and  the  sense  of  justice  that  characterize  the  distin- 
guished individual  who  holds  the  ofiice  of  Queen's  Advocate 
would  have  abstained  from  those  aspersions  which  have  been 
cast  upon  that  meritorious  officer. 

Perhaps  I  may  have  deviated  from  the  strict  orders  of  the 
House  in  what  I  have  said;  but  I  felt  it  due  to  an  honorable- 
minded  man  to  give  my  testimony,  on  the  earliest  occasion  that 
presented  itself,  to  the  independence  and  integrity  of  his 
character. 

I  say,  then,  that  if  our  subjects  abroad  have  complaints 
against  individuals,  or  against  the  government  of  a  foreign 
country,  if  the  courts  of  law  of  that  country  can  afford  them 
redress,  then,  no  doubt,  to  those  courts  of  justice  the  British 
subject  ought  in  the  first  instance  to  apply;  and  it  is  only  on  a 
denial  of  justice,  or  upon  decisions  manifestly  unjust,  that  the 


352 


LORD  PALMERSTOl^ 


Britisli  government  should  be  called  upon  to  interfere.  But 
there  may  be  cases  in  which  no  confidence  can  be  placed  in  the 
tribunals,  those  tribunals  being,  from  their  composition  and 
nature,  not  of  a  character  to  inspire  any  hope  of  obtaining  jus- 
tice from  them. 

It  has  been  said,  ^'  We  do  not  apply  this  rule  to  countries 
whose  governments  are  arbitrary  or  despotic,  because  there  the 
tribunals  are  under  the  control  of  the  government,  and  justice 
cannot  be  had;  and,  moreover,  it  is  not  meant  to  be  applied 
to  nominal  constitutional  governments,  where  the  tribunals 
are  corrupt.'^ 

But  who  is  to  be  the  judge,  in  such  a  case,  whether  the 
tribunals  are  corrupt  or  not, — the  British  government,  or  the 
government  of  the  State  from  which  you  demand  justice  ? 

I  will  take  a  transaction  that  occurred  not  long  ago,  as  an 
instance  of  a  case  in  which,  I  say,  the  people  of  England  would 
not  permit  a  British  subject  to  be  simply  amenable  to  the  law 
of  the  foreign  country  in  which  he  happened  to  be.  I  am  not 
going  to  talk  of  the  power  of  sending  a  man  arbitrarily  to 
Siberia;  nor  of  a  country  the  constitution  of  which  vests  des- 
potic power  in  the  hands  of  the  sovereign.  I  will  take  a  case 
which  happened  in  Sicily,  where  not  long  ago  a  decree  was 
passed  that  any  man  who  was  found  with  concealed  arms  in 
his  possession  should  be  brought  before  a  court-martial,  and,  if 
found  guilty,  should  be  shot. 

'Now,  this  happened.  An  innkeeper  of  Catania  was  brought 
before  a  court-martial,  accused  under  this  law  by  some  police 
officers,  who  stated  that  they  had  discovered  in  an  open  bin,  in 
an  open  stable  in  his  inn  yard,  a  knife,  which  they  denounced 
as  a  concealed  weapon.  Witnesses  having  been  examined, 
the  counsel  for  the  prosecution  stated  that  he  gave  up  the 
case,  as  it  was  evident  there  was  no  proof  that  the  knife 


ON  THE   AFFAIRS   OF  GREECE 


353 


belonged  to  the  man  or  that  he  was  aware  it  was  in  the  place 
where  it  was  found. 

The  counsel  for  the  defendant  said  that,  such  being  the 
opinion  of  the  counsel  for  the  prosecution,  it  was  unnecessary 
for  him  to  go  into  the  defence,  and  he  left  his  client  in  the 
hands  of  the  court.  The  court,  however,  nevertheless  pro- 
nounced the  man  guilty  of  the  charge  brought  against  him,  and 
the  next  morning  the  man  was  shot. 

i^ow,  what  would  the  English  people  have  said  if  this  had 
been  done  to  a  British  subject?  and  yet  everything  done  was 
the  result  of  a  law,  and  the  man  was  found  guilty  of  an  offence 
by  a  tribunal  of  the  country. 

I  say,  then,  that  our  doctrine  is  that  in  the  first  instance 
redress  should  be  sought  from  the  law  courts  of  the  country; 
but  that  in  cases  where  redress  cannot  be  so  had — and  those 
cases  are  many — to  confine  a  British  subject  to  that  remedy 
only  would  be  to  deprive  him  of  the  protection  which  he  is 
entitled  to  receive. 

Then  the  (question  arises,  how  does  this  rule  apply  to  the 
demands  we  have  made  upon  G-reece?  And  here  I  must 
shortly  remind  the  House  of  the  origin  of  our  relations  with 
Greece,  and  of  the  condition  of  Greece ;  because  those  circum- 
stances are  elements  that  must  enter  into  the  consideration  of 
the  course  we  have  pursued. 

It  is  well  known  that  Greece  revolted  from  Turkey  in  1820. 
In  1827,  England,  France,  and  Bussia  determined  upon  inter- 
posing, and  ultimately,  in  1828,  they  resolved  to  employ 
forcible  means  in  order  to  bring  Turkey  to  acknowledge  the 
independence  of  Greece.  Greece,  by  protocol  in  1830,  and 
by  treaty  in  1832,  was  erected  into  a  separate  and  independent 
State.  And  whereas  nearly  from  the  year  1820  up  to  the 
time  of  that  treaty  of  1832,  when  its  independence  was  finally 

Vol.  5—23 


354 


LORD  PALMERSTON 


acknowledged,  Greece  had  been  under  a  republican  form  of 
government,  with  an  Assembly  and  a  Pl-esident,  the  three 
Powers  determined  that  Greece  should  thenceforth  be  a 
monarchy. 

But  while  England  assented  to  that  arrangement,  and  con- 
sidered that  it  was  better  that  Greece  should  assume  a  mon- 
archical form  of  government,  yet  we  attached  to  that  assent  an 
indispensable  condition  that  Greece  should  be  a  constitutional 
monarchy.  The  British  government  could  not  consent  to 
place  the  people  of  Greece,  in  their  independent  political  exist- 
ence, under  as  arbitrary  a  government  as  that  from  which 
they  had  revolted. 

Consequently,  when  the  three  Powers,  in  the  exercise  of 
that  function  which  had  been  devolved  upon  them  by  the 
authority  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Greece,  chose  a  sovereign 
for  Greece  (for  that  choice  was  made  in  consequence  of 
and  by  virtue  of  the  authority  given  to  them  by  the  General 
Assembly  of  Greece),  and  when  Prince  Otho  of  Bavaria,  then 
a  minor,  was  chosen,  the  three  Powers,  on  announcing  the 
choice  they  had  made,  at  the  same  time  declared  that  King 
Otho  would,  in  concert  with  his  people,  give  to  Greece  con- 
stitutional institutions. 

The  choice  and  that  announcement  were  ratified  by  the 
king  of  Bavaria  in  the  name  and  on  behalf  of  his  son.  It  was, 
however,  understood  that  during  the  minority  of  King  Otho 
the  establishment  of  the  constitution  should  be  suspended ;  but 
that  when  he  came  of  age  he  should  enter  into  communication 
with  his  people  and  together  with  them  arrange  the  form 
of  constitution  to  be  adopted.  King  Otho  came  of  age,  but 
no  constitution  was  given.  There  was  a  disinclination  on  the 
part  of  his  advisers  to  counsel  him  to  fulfill  that  engagement. 

The  government  of  England  expressed  an  opinion,  through 


ON  THE  AFFAIRS  OF  GREECE 


355 


various  channels,  that  that  engagement  ought  to  be  fulfilled. 
But  opinions  of  a  different  kind  reached  the  royal  ear  from 
other  quarters.  Other  governments  naturally — I  say  it  without 
implying  any  imputation — are  attached  to  their  own  forms. 
Each  government  thinks  its  own  form  and  nature  the  best, 
and  wishes  to  see  that  form,  if  possible,  extended  elsewhere. 
Therefore  I  do  not  mention  this  with  any  intention  of  casting 
the  least  reproach  upon  Russia,  or  Prussia,  or  Austria.  Those 
three  governments  at  that  time  were  despotic.  Their  advice 
was  given  and  their  influence  was  exerted  to  prevent  the  king 
of  Greece  from  granting  a  constitution  to  his  people.  We 
thought,  however,  that  in  France  we  might  find  sympathy 
with  our  political  opinions  and  support  in  the  advice  which 
we  wished  to  give. 

But  we  were  unfortunate.  The  then  government  of 
France,  not  at  all  undervaluing  constitutional  institutions, 
thought  that  the  time  was  not  yet  come  when  Greece  could 
be  ripe  for  representative  government.  The  king  of  Bavaria 
leaned  also  to  the  same  side.  Therefore,  from  the  time  when 
the  king  came  of  age,  and  for  several  years  afterward,  the 
English  government  stood  in  this  position  in  Greece  with 
regard  to  its  government — that  we  alone  were  anxious  for 
the  fulfilment  of  the  engagement  of  the  king,  while  all  the 
other  Powers  who  were  represented  at  Athens  were  averse  to 
its  being  made  good,  or  at  least  were  not  equally  desirous  of 
urging  it  upon  the  king  of  Greece. 

This  necessarily  placed  us  in  a  situation,  to  say  the  least 
of  it,  of  disfavor  on  the  part  of  the  agents  of  those  Powers 
and  on  the  part  of  the  government  of  Greece.  I  was  sorry 
for  it;  at  the  same  time  I  don't  think  the  people  of  this  coun- 
try will  be  of  opinion  that  we  ought,  for  the  sake  of  obtaining 
the  mere  good  will  of  the  Greek  government,  to  nave  departed 


356 


LORD  PALMERSTON 


from  the  principle  whicli  we  had  laid  down  from  the  begin- 
ning. But  it  was  so ;  and  when  people  talk  of  the  antagonistic 
influences  which  were  in  conflict  at  the  Greek  court;  and 
when  people  say,  as  I  have  heard  it  said,  that  our  ministers 
and  the  ministers  of  foreign  governments  were  disputing 
about  the  appointment  of  mirarchs  and  nomarchs,  and  God 
knows  what  petty  ofiicers  of  State,  I  say  that,  as  far  as  our 
minister  was  concerned,  that  is  a  statement  entirely  at  vari- 
ance with  the  fact. 

Our  minister,  Sir  Edmund  Lyons,  never,  during  the  whole 
time  he  was  in  Greece,  asked  any  favor  of  any  sort  or  kind 
for  himself  or  for  any  friend.  No'  conduct  of  that  mean, 
and  low,  and  petty  description  was  carried  on  by  any  person 
connected  with  the  English  government.  It  was  known  that 
we  wished  the  Greek  nation  should  have  representative  insti- 
tutions, while,  on  the  other  hand,  other  influences  were  ex- 
erted the  other  way;  and  that,  and  that  only,  was  the  ground 
of  the  differences  which  existed. 

One  of  the  evils  of  the  absence  of  constitutional  institu- 
tions was  that  the  whole  system  of  government  grew  to  be 
full  of  every  kind  of  abuse.  Justice  could  not  be  expected 
where  the  judges  of  the  tribunals  were  at  the  mercy  of  the 
advisers  of  the  Crown.  The  finances  could  not  be  in  any  order 
where  there  was  no^  public  responsibility  on  the  part  of  those 
who  were  to  collect  or  to  spend  the  revenue.  Every  sort  of 
abuse  was  practised. 

In  all  times  in  Greece,  as  is  well  known,  there  has  pre- 
vailed, from  the  daring  habits  of  the  people,  a  system  of 
compulsory  appropriation — ^forcible  appropriation  by  one 
man  of  that  which  belonged  to  another;  which,  of  course, 
is  very  disagreeable  to  those  who  are  the  victims  of  the  sys- 
tem, and  exceedingly  injurious  to  the  social  condition,  im- 


ON   THE   AFFAIRS   OF  GREECE 


357 


provement,  and  prosperity  of  the  country.  In  short,  what 
foreigners  call  brigandage,  which  prevailed  under  the  Turkish 
rule,  has  not,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  diminished  under  the  Greek 
sovereignty. 

Moreover,  the  police  of  the  Greek  government  have  prac- 
tised abuses  of  the  grossest  description;  and  if  I  wanted  evi- 
dence on  that  subject  I  could  appeal  to  the  honorable  gentle- 
man who  has  just  sat  down,  who,  in  a  pamphlet  which  all 
must  have  read  or  ought  to  read,  has  detailed  instances  of 
barbarity  of  the  most  revolting  kind  practised  by  the  police. 
I  have  here  depositions  of  persons  who  have  been  subjected 
to  the  most  abominable  tortures  which  human  ingenuity  could 
devise — tortures  inflicted  upon  both  sexes,  most  revolting  and 
disgusting. 

One  of  the  ofiicers,  a  man  of  the  name  of  Tzino,  at  the 
head  of  the  police,  was  himself  in  the  habit  of  inflicting  the 
most  diabolical  tortures  upon  Greeks,  and  upon  foreigners, 
Turks,  and  others.  This  man  Tzino,  instead  of  being  pun- 
ished as  he  ought  to  have  been,  and  as  he  deserved  to  be,  not 
only  by  the  laws  of  nature,  but  by  the  laws  of  Greece — this 
person,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  is  held  in  great  favor  in  quarters 
w^here  he  ought  to  have  received  nothing  but  marks  of  indig- 
nation. 

Well,  this  being  the  state  of  things  in  Greece,  there  have 
always  been  in  every  town  in  Greece  a  great  number  of  per- 
sons whom  we  are  bound  to  protect — Maltese,  lonians,  and  a 
certain  number  of  British  subjects.  It  became  the  practice 
of  this  Greek  police  to  make  no  distinction  between  th^ 
Maltese  and  lonians  and  their  own  fellow  subjects. 

"We  shall  be  told,  perhaps,  as  we  have  already  been  told, 
that  if  the  people  of  the  country  are  liable  to  have  heavy 
stones  placed  upon  their  breasts,  and  police  oflicers  to  dance 


358 


LORD  PALMERSTON 


upon  them;  if  they  are  liable  to  have  their  heads  tied  to  tneir 
knees,  and  to  be  left  for  hours  in  that  state;  or  to  be  swung 
like  a  pendulum,  and  to  be  bastinadoed  as  they  swing,  for- 
eigners have  no  right  to  be  better  treated  than  the  natives, 
and  have  no  business  to  complain  if  the  same  things  are 
practised  upon  them.  We  may  be  told  this,  but  that  is  not 
my  opinion,  nor  do  I  believe  it  is  the  opinion  of  any  reason- 
able man.  Then,  I  say,  that  in  considering  the  cases  of  the 
lonians,  for  whom  we  demanded  reparation,  the  House  must 
look  at  and  consider  what  was  the  state  of  things  in  this  re- 
spect in  Greece;  they  must  consider  the  practices  that  were 
going  on,  and  the  necessity  of  putting  a  stop  to  the  extension 
of  these  abuses  to  British  and  Ionian  subjects  by  demanding 
compensation,  scarcely,  indeed,  more  than  nominal  in  some 
cases,  but  the  granting  of  which  would  be  an  acknowledg- 
ment that  such  things  should  not  be  done  towards  us  in  future. 

In  discussing  these  cases  I  am  concerned  to  have  to  say 
that  they  appear  to  me  to  have  been  dealt  with  elsewhere  in 
a  spirit  and  in  a  tone  which  I  think  was  neither  befitting 
the  persons  concerning  whom,  nor  the  persons  by  whom,  nor 
the  persons  before  whom,  the  discussion  took  place.  It  is 
often  more  convenient  to  treat  matters  with  ridicule  than 
with  grave  argument;  and  we  have  had  serious  things  treated 
jocosely;  and  grave  men  kept  in  a  roar  of  laughter  for  an 
hour  together  at  the  poverty  of  one  sufferer  or  at  the  miser- 
able habitation  of  another,  at  the  nationality  of  one  injured 
man  or  the  religion  of  another ;  as  if  because  a  man  was  poor 
he  might  be  bastinadoed  and  tortured  with  impunity;  as  if  a 
man  who  was  born  in  Scotland  might  be  robbed  without  re- 
dress; or,  because  a  man  is  of  the  Jewish  persuasion,  he  is 
fair  game  for  any  outrage. 

It  is  a  true  saying,  and  has  often  been  repeated,  that  a 


ON  THE  AFFAIRS  OF  GREECE 


359 


very  moderate  share  of  human  wisdom  is  sufficient  for  the 
guidance  of  human  affairs.  But  there  is  another  truth, 
equally  indisputable,  which  is  that  a  man  who  aspires  to 
govern  mankind  ought  to  bring  to  the  task  generous  senti- 
ments, compassionate  sympathies,  and  noble  and  elevated 
thoughts.  .  .  . 

I  do  not  complain  of  the  conduct  of  those  who  have  made 
these  matters  the  means  of  attack  upon  her  Majesty's  minis- 
ters. The  government  of  a  great  country  like  this  is  un- 
doubtedly an  object  of  fair  and  legitimate  ambition  to  men 
of  a!l  shades  of  opinion.  It  is  a  noble  thing  to  be  allowed 
to  guide  the  policy  and  to  influence  the  destinies  of  such  a 
country;  and,  if  ever  it  was  an  object  of  honorable  ambition, 
more  than  ever  must  it  be  so  at  the  moment  at  which  I  am 
speaking.  For  while  we  have  seen,  as  stated  by  the  right 
honorable  baronet  the  member  for  Ripon  [Sir  James  Gra- 
ham], the  political  earthquake  rocking  Europe  from  side  to 
side;  while  we  have  seen  thrones  shaken,  shattered,  levelled; 
institutions  overthrown  and  destroyed;  while  in  almost  every 
country  of  Europe  the  conflict  of  civil  war  has  deluged  the 
land  with  blood  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Black  Sea,  from 
the  Baltic  to  the  Mediterranean, — this  country  has  presented 
a  spectacle  honorable  to  the  people  of  England  and  worthy 
of  the  admiration  of  mankind. 

We  have  shown  that  liberty  is  compatible  with  order;  that 
individual  freedom  is  reconcilable  with  obedience  to  the  law. 
We  have  shown  the  example  of  a  nation  in  which  every  class 
of  society  accepts  with  cheerfulness  the  lot  which  Providence 
has  assigned  to  it;  while  at  the  same  time  every  individual 
of  each  class  is  constantly  striving  to  raise  himself  in  the 
social  scale — not  by  injustice  and  wrong,  not  by  violence  and 
illegality,  but  by  persevering  good  conduct  and  by  the  steady 
and  energetic  exertion  of  the  moral  and  intellectual  faculties 


360 


LORD  PALMEESTON 


with  which  his  Creator  has  endowed  him.    To  govern  such  a 
people  as  this  is  indeed  an  object  worthy  of  the  ambition  of 
the  noblest  man  who  lives  in  the  land;  and  therefore  I  find 
no  fault  w^ith  those  who  may  think  any  opportunity  a  fair 
one  for  endeavoring  to  place  themselves  in  so  distinguished 
and  honorable  a  position.    But  I  contend  that  we  have  not 
in  our  foreign  policy  done  anything  to  forfeit  the  confidence 
of  the  country.    We  may  not,  perhaps,  in  this  matter  or  in 
that,  have  acted  precisely  up  to  the  opinions  of  one  person  or 
of  another — and  hard  indeed  it  is,  as  we  all  know  by  our  in- 
dividual and  private  experience,  to  find  any  number  of  men 
agreeing  entirely  in  any  matter,  on  which  they  may  not  be 
equally  possessed  of  the  details  of  the  facts,  and  circum- 
stances, and  reasons,  and  conditions  which  led  them  to  action. 
But,  making  allowance  for  those  differences  of  opinion  which 
may  fairly  and  honorably  arise  among  those  who  concur  in 
general  views,  I  maintain  that  the  principles  which  can  be 
traced  through  all  our  foreign  transactions,  as  the  guiding 
rule  and  directing  spirit  of  our  proceedings,  are  such  as  de- 
serve approbation.    I  therefore  fearlessly  challenge  the  ver- 
dict which  this  House,  as  representing  a  political,  a  com- 
mercial, a  constitutional  country,  is  to  give  on  the  question 
now  brought  before  it;  whether  the  principles  on  which  the 
foreign  policy  of  her  Majesty's  govermuent  has  been  con- 
ducted, and  the  sense  of  duty  which  has  led  us  to  think  our- 
selves bound  to  afford  protection  to   our  fellow  subjects 
abroad,  are  proper  and  fitting  guides  for  those  who  are 
charged  with  the  government  of  England;  and  whether  as 
the  Roman,  in  days  of  old,  held  himself  free  from  indignity 
when  he  could  say  Civis  Romanus  sum,  so  also'  a  British  sub- 
ject, in  whatever  land  he  may  be,  shall  feel  confident  that  the 
watchful  eye  and  the  strong  arm  of  England  will  protect  him 
against  injustice  and  wrong. 


CHARLES  PHILLIPS 


HARLES  Phillips,  an  Irish  lawyer  and  miscellaneous  writer,  was  born  at 
Sligo,  Ireland,  about  1789,  and  died  at  London,  Feb.  1,  1859.  He  was 
educated  at  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  and  in  law  at  the  Middle  Temple, 
London.  Called,  in  1812,  to  the  Irish  Bar,  he  there  became  widely  known 
for  his  flowery  and  declamatory  oratory.  On  account  of  his  activity  in  behalf  of  Cath- 
olic Emancipation  he  was  presented  with  a  national  testimonial  in  1813.  In  1821,  he 
was  called  to  the  English  Bar,  and  speedily  assumed  the  leadership  of  the  Bar  at  the 
Old  Bailey.  He  possessed  not  a  little  eloquence,  but  marred  the  effect  of  his  addresses 
and  speeches  by  habitual  over-statement.  Among  his  more  important  publications  are : 
"The  Loves  of  Celestine  and  St.  Aubert"  (1811);  "Recollections  of  Curran  and  His 
Contemporaries"  (1818);  "Specimens  of  Irish  Eloquence"  (1819);  "The  Emerald 
Isle";  and  " Vacation  Thoughts  on  Capital  Punishments"  (1857),  a  work  afterward 
reprinted  by  the  Quakers.  His  own  speeches  he  collected  and  edited,  and  were  pub- 
lished in  1817,  together  with  some  fugitive  pieces. 

SPEECH  AT  AN  AGGREGATE  MEETING  OF  ROMAN 
CATHOLICS  AT  CORK 

IT  IS  with  no  small  degree  of  self-congratulation  that  I  at 
length  find  myself  in  a  province  which  every  glance  of 
the  eye  and  every  throb  of  the  heart  tell  me  is  truly 
Irish;  and  that  congratulation  is  not  a  little  enhanced  by  find- 
ing that  you  receive  me  not  quite  as  a  stranger. 

Indeed,  if  to  respect  the  Christian  without  regard  to  his 
creed,  if  to  love  the  country  but  the  more  for  its  calamities, 
if  to  hate  oppression  though  it  be  robed  in  power,  if  to  ven- 
erate integrity  though  it  pine  under  persecution,  give  a  man 
any  claim  to  your  recognition,  then,  indeed,  I  am  not  a 
stranger  amongst  you.  There  is  a  bond  of  union  between 
brethren,  however  distant;  there  is  a  sympathy  between  the 
virtuous,  however  separated;  there  is  a  heaven-bom  instinct 

by  which  the  associates  of  the  heart  become  at  once  ac- 
(361) 


362 


CHARLES  PHILLIPS 


quainted,  and  kindred  natures,  as  it  were,  by  magic  see  in 
the  face  of  a  stranger  the  features  of  a  friend. 

Thus  it  is,  that,  though  we  never  met,  you  hail  in  me  the 
sweet  association,  and  I  feel  myself  amongst  you  even  as  if 
I  were  in  the  home  of  my  nativity.  But  this  my  knowledge 
of  you  was  not  left  to  chance;  nor  was  it  left  to  the  records 
of  your  charity,  the  memorials  of  your  patriotism,  your  muni- 
cipal magnificence,  or  your  commercial  splendor;  it  came  to 
me  hallowed  by  the  accents  of  that  tongue  on  which  Ireland 
has  so  often  hung  with  ecstacy,  heightened  by  the  eloquence 
and  endeared  by  the  sincerity  of,  I  hope,  our  mutual  friend. 
Let  me  congratulate  him  on  having  become  in  some  degree 
naturalized  in  a  province  where  the  spirit  of  the  elder  day 
seems  to  have  lingered;  and  let  me  congratulate  you  on  the 
acquisition  of  a  man  who  is  at  once  the  zealous  advocate  of 
your  cause  and  a  practical  instance  of  the  injustice  of  your 
oppressions.  Surely,  surely  if  merit  had  fair  play,  if  splendid 
talents,  if  indefatigable  industry,  if  great  research,  if  unsul- 
lied principle,  if  a  heart  full  of  the  finest  affections,  if  a  mind 
matured  in  every  manly  accomplishment — in  short,  if  every 
noble  public  quality,  mellowed  and  reflected  in  the  pure  mir- 
ror of  domestic  virtue,  could  entitle  a  subject  to  distinction 
in  a  state,  Mr.  O'Connell  should  be  distinguished;  but  it  is 
his  crime  to  be  a  Catholic  and  his  curse  to  be  an  Irishman. 

Simpleton!  he  prefers  his  conscience  to  a  place,  and  the 
love  of  his  country  to  a  participation  in  her  plunder!  Indeed 
he  will  never  rise.  If  he  joined  the  bigots  of  my  sect  he 
might  be  a  sergeant;  if  he  joined  the  infidels  of  your  sect  he 
might  enjoy  a  pension,  and  there  is  no  knowing  whether  some 
Orange  corporator,  at  an  Orange  anniversary,  might  not  mod- 
estly yield  him  the  precedence  of  giving  "  the  glorious  and 
immortal  memory." 


AT  MEETING   OF  CATHOLICS  AT  CORK 


363 


Oh,  yes;  he  might  be  privileged  to  get  drunk  in  gratitude 
to  the  man  who  colonized  ignorance  in  his  native  land  and 
left  to  his  creed  the  legacy  of  legalized  persecution.  Nor 
would  he  stand  alone,  no  matter  what  might  be  the  measure 
of  his  disgrace  or  the  degree  of  his  dereliction.  You  well 
know  there  are  many  of  your  own  community  who  would 
leave  him  at  the  distance-post.  In  contemplating  their  recre- 
ancy I  should  be  almost  tempted  to  smile  at  the  exhibition  of 
their  pretensions  if  there  was  not  a  kind  of  moral  melancholy 
intermingled  that  changed  satire  into  pity  and  ridicule  into 
contempt. 

For  my  part,  I  behold  them  in  the  apathy  of  their  servitude 
as  I  would  some  miserable  maniac  in  the  contentment  of  his 
captivity.  Poor  creature!  when  all  that  raised  him  from  the 
brute  is  levelled,  and  his  glorious  intellect  is  moldering  in 
ruins,  you  may  see  him  with  his  song  of  triumph  and  his 
crown  of  straw,  a  fancied  freeman  amid  the  clanking  of  his 
chains  and  an  imaginary  monarch  beneath  the  inflictions  of 
his  keeper. 

Merciful  God !  is  it  not  almost  an  argument  for  the  sceptic 
and  the  disbeliever,  when  we  see  the  human  shape  almost 
without  an  aspiration  of  the  human  soul,  separated  by  no 
boundary  from  the  beasts  that  perish,  beholding  with  indif- 
ference the  captivity  of  their  country,  the  persecution  of  their 
creed,  and  the  helpless,  hopeless  destiny  of  their  children? 
But  they  have  no  creed  nor  consciences  nor  country;  their 
god  is  gold,  their  gospel  is  a  contract,  their  church  a  counting- 
house,  their  characters  a  commodity;  they  never  pray  but  for 
the  opportunities  of  corruption,  and  hold  their  consciences, 
as  they  do  their  government  debentures,  at  a  price  propor- 
tioned to  the  misfortunes  of  their  country. 

But  let  us  turn  from  these  mendicants  of  disgrace ;  though 


364 


CHARLES  PHILLIPS 


Ireland  is  doomed  to  the  stain  of  their  birth,  her  mind  need 
not  be  sullied  by  their  contemplation.  I  turn  from  them 
with  pleasure  to  the  contemplation  of  your  cause,  which,  as 
far  as  argument  can  effect  it,  stands  on  a  sublime  and  splen- 
did elevation.  Every  obstacle  has  vanished  into  air;  every 
favorable  circumstance  has  hardened  into  adamant. 

The  Pope,  whom  childhood  was  taught  to  lisp  as  the  enemy 
of  religion,  and  age  shuddered  at  as  a  prescriptive  calamity, 
has  by  his  example  put  the  princes  of  Christendom  to  shame. 
This  day  of  miracles,  in  which  the  human  heart  has  been 
strung  to  its  extremest  point  of  energy;  this  day,  tO'  which 
posterity  will  look  for  instances  of  every  crime  and  every 
virtue,  holds  not  in  its  page  of  wonders  a  more  sublime 
phenomenon  than  that  calumniated  pontiif.  Placed  at  the 
very  pinnacle  of  human  elevation,  surrounded  by  the  pomp  of 
the  Vatican  and  the  splendors  of  the  court,  pouring  the  man- 
dates of  Christ  from  the  throne  of  the  Caesars,  nations  were 
his  subjects,  kings  were  his  companions,  religion  was  his  hand- 
maid; he  went  forth  gorgeous  with  the  accumulated  dignity 
of  ages,  every  knee  bending  and  every  eye  blessing  the  prince 
of  one  world  and  the  prophet  of  another.  Have  we  not  seen 
him  in  one  moment,  his  crown  crumbled,  his  sceptre  a  reed, 
his  throne  a  shadow,  his  home  a  dungeon? 

But  if  we  have.  Catholics,  it  was.  only  tO'  show  how  ines- 
timable is  human  virtue  compared  with  human  grandeur;  it 
was  only  to  show  those  whose  faith  was  failing  and  whose 
fears  were  strengthening  that  the  simplicity  of  the  patriarchs, 
the  piety  of  the  saints,  and  the  patience  of  the  martyrs  had  not 
wholly  vanished. 

Perhaps  it  was  also  ordained  to  show  the  bigot  at  home, 
as  well  as  the  tyrant  abroad,  that  though  the  person  might 
be  chained,  and  the  motive  calumniated,  religion  was  still 


AT  MEETING   OF  CATHOLICS  AT  CORK 


365 


strong  enough  to  support  her  sons  and  to  confound  if  she 
could  not  reclaim  her  enemies.  'No  threats  could  awe,  no 
promises  could  tempt,  no  sufferings  could  appal  him;  amid  the 
damps  of  his  dungeon  he  dashed  away  the  cup  in  which  the 
pearl  of  his  liberty  was  to  be  dissolved. 

Only  reflect  on  the  state  of  the  world  at  that  moment.  All 
around  him  was  convulsed,  the  very  foundations  of  the  earth 
seemed  giving  way;  the  comet  was  let  loose,  that  "  from  its 
fiery  hair  shook  pestilence  and  death;"  the  twilight  was 
gathering,  the  tempest  was  roaring,  the  darkness  was  at  hand; 
but  he  towered  sublime,  like  the  last  mountain  in  the  deluge, 
majestic,  not  less  in  his  elevation  than  in  his  solitude,  im- 
mutable amid  change,  magnificent  amid  ruin,  the  last  rem- 
nant of  earth's  beauty,  the  last  resting-place  of  heaven's  light ! 
Thus  have  the  terrors  of  the  Vatican  retreated;  thus  has  that 
cloud  which  hovered  o'er  your  cause  brightened  at  once  into 
a  sign  of  your  faith  and  an  assurance  of  your  victory. 

Another  obstacle,  the  omnipotence  of  France;  I  know  it 
was  a  pretence,  but  it  was  made  an  obstacle.  What  has  be- 
come of  it?  The  spell  of  her  invincibility  destroyed,  the 
spirit  of  her  armies  broken,  her  immense  boundary  dismem- 
bered, and  the  lord  of  her  empire  become  the  exile  of  a  rock. 
She  allows  fancy  no  fear,  and  bigotry  no  speciousness;  and, 
as  if  in  the  very  operation  of  the  change  to  point  the  purpose 
of  your  redemption,  the  hand  that  replanted  the  rejected  lily 
was  that  of  an  Irish  Catholic. 

Perhaps  it  is  not  also  unworthy  of  remark  that  the  last  day 
of  her  triumph  and  the  first  of  her  decline  was  that  on  which 
her  insatiable  chieftain  smote  the  holy  head  of  your  religion. 
You  will  hardly  suspect  I  am,  imbued  with  the  follies  of  super- 
stition; but  when  the  man  now  unborn  shall  trace  the  story 
of  that  eventful  day  he  will  see  the  adopted  child  of  fortune 


366 


CHARLES  PHILLIPS 


borne  on  the  wings  of  victory  from  clime  to  clime,  marking 
every  movement  with  a  triumph  and  every  pause  with  a 
crown,  till  time,  space,  and  seasons,  nay,  even  nature  herself, 
seeming  to  vanish  from  before  him — in  the  blasphemy  of  his 
ambition  he  smote  the  apostle  of  his  God  and  dared  to  raise  the 
everlasting  Cross  amid  his  perishable  trophies! 

I  am  no  fanatic;  but  is  it  not  remarkable?  May  it  not  be 
one  of  those  sig-ns  which  the  Deity  has  sometimes  given  in 
compassion  to  our  infirmity?  signs  which,  in  the  punishment 
of  one  nation,  not  infrequently  denote  the  warning  to 
another — 

"  Signs  sent  by  God  to  mark  the  will  of  Heaven: 
Signs  which  bid  nations  weep  and  be  forgiven." 

The  argument,  however,  is  taken  from  the  bigot;  and  those 
whose  consciousness  taught  them  to  expect  what  your  loyalty 
should  have  taught  them  to  repel  can  no  longer  oppose  you 
from  the  terrors  of  invasion.  Thus,  then,  the  papal  phantom 
and  the  French  threat  have  vanished  into  nothing. 

Another  obstacle,  the  tenets  of  your  creed.  Has  England 
still  to  learn  them?  I  will  tell  her  where.  Let  her  ask 
Canada,  the  last  plank  of  her  American  shipwreck.  Let  her 
ask  Portugal,  the  first  omen  of  her  European  splendor.  Let 
her  ask  Spain,  the  most  Catholic  country  in  the  universe,  her 
Catholic  friends,  her  Catholic  allies,  her  rivals  in  the  triumph, 
her  reliance  in  the  retreat,  her  last  stay  when  the  world  had 
deserted  her.  They  must  have  told  her  on  the  field  of  blood 
whether  it  was  true  that  they    kept  no  faith  with  heretics." 

Alas,  alas!  how  miserable  a  thing  is  bigotry,  when  every 
friend  puts  it  to  blush  and  every  triumph  but  rebukes  its 
weakness!  If  England  continued  still  to  accredit  this 
calumny,  I  would  direct  her  for  conviction  to  the  hero^  for 
whose  gift  alone  she  owes  us  an  eteniity  of  gratitude;  whom 


AT  MEETING  OP  CATHOLICS  AT  CORK 


867 


we  have  seen  leading  the  van  of  universal  emancipation,  deck- 
ing his  wreath  with  the  flowers  of  every  soil  and  filling  his 
army  with  the  soldiers  of  every  sect;  before  whose  splendid 
dawn,  every  tear  exhaling  and  every  vapor  vanishing,  the 
colors  of  the  European  world  have  revived  and  the  spirit  of 
European  liberty  (may  no  crimic  avert  the  omen!)  seems  to 
have  risen!  Suppose  he  was  a  Catholic,  could  this  have  been? 
Suppose  Catholics  did  not  follow  him,  could  this  have  been? 
Did  the  Catholic  Cbrtes  inquire  his  faith  when  they  gave 
him.  the  supreme  command?  Did  the  regent  of  Portugal 
withhold  from  his  creed  the  reward  of  his  valor?  Did  the 
Catholic  soldier  pause  at  Salamanca  to  dispute  upon  polemics? 
Did  the  Catholic  chieftain  prove  upon  Barossa  that  he  had 
kept  no  faith  with  heretics?  or  did  the  creed  of  Spain,  the 
same  with  that  of  France,  the  opposite  of  that  of  England, 
prevent  their  association  in  the  field  of  liberty  ? 

Oh,  no,  no,  no!  the  citizen  of  every  clime,  the  friend  of 
every  color,  and  the  child  of  every  creed,  liberty  walks  abroad 
in  the  ubiquity  of  her  benevolence,  alike  to  her  the  varieties 
of  faith  and  the  vicissitudes  of  country;  she  has  no  object 
but  the  happiness  of  man,  no  bounds  but  the  extremities  of 
creation.  Yes,  yes,  it  was  reserved  for  Wellington  to  redeem 
his  own  country  when  he  was  regenerating  every  other.  It 
was  reserved  for  him  to  show  how  vile  were  the  aspersions  on 
your  creed,  how  generous  were  the  glowings  of  your  grati- 
tude. 

He  was  a  Protestant,  yet  Catholics  trusted  him;  he  was  a 
Protestant,  yet  Catholics  advanced  him.  He  is  a  Protestant 
Knight  in  Catholic  Portugal;  he  is  a  Protestant  Duke  in 
Catholic  Spain;  he  is  a  Protestant  commander  of  Catholic 
armies:  he  is  more;  he  is  the  living  proof  of  the  Catholic's 
liberality  and  the  undeniable  refutation  of  the  Protestant's 


368 


CHARLES  PHILLIPS 


injustice.  Gentlemen,  as  a  Protestant,  though  I  may  blush 
for  the  bigotry  of  many  of  my  creed  who  continue  obstinate, 
in  the  teeth  of  this  conviction,  still,  were  I  a  Catholic,  I 
should  feel  little  triumph  in  the  victory.  I  should  only  hang 
my  head  at  the  distresses  which  this  warfare  occasioned  to 
my  country.  I  should  only  think  how  long  she  had  withered 
in  the  agony  of  her  disunion;  how  long  she  had  bent,  fettered 
by  slaves,  cajoled  by  blockheads,  and  plundered  by  adven- 
turers; the  proverb  of  the  fool,  the  prey  of  the  politician,  the 
dupe  of  the  designing,  the  experiment  of  the  desperate; 
struggling  as  it  were  between  her  own  fanatical  and  in- 
fatuated parties,  those  hell-engendered  serpents  which  enfold 
her,  like  the  Trojan  seer,  even  at  the  worship  of  her  altars, 
and  crush  her  to  death  in  the  very  embraces  of  her  children! 
It  is  time  (is  it  not?)  that  she  should  be  extricated. 

The  act  would  be  proud,  the  means  would  be  Christian; 
mutual  forbearance,  mutual  indulgence,  mutual  concession:  I 
would  say  to  the  Protestant,  "  Cbncede;"  I  would  say  to  the 
Catholic,  Forgive;"  I  would  say  to  both,  ^'  Though  you  bend 
not  at  the  same  shrine^  you  have  a  common  God  and  a  com- 
mon country;  the  one  has  commanded  love,  the  other  kneels 
to  you  for  peace," 

This  hostility  of  her  sects  has  been  the  disgrace,  the  pe- 
culiar disgrace  of  Christianity.  The  Gentoo  loves  his  caste; 
so  does  the  Mahometan;  so  does  the  Hindoo,  whom  England, 
out  of  the  abundance  of  her  charity,  is  about  to  teach  her 
creed: — I  hope  she  may  not  teach  her  practice. 

But  Christianity — Christianity  alone,  exhibits  her  thou- 
sand sects,  each  denouncing  his  neighbor  here,  in  the  name 
of  God;  and  damning  hereafter,  out  of  pure  devotion! 
"You're  a  heretic,"  says  the  Catholic:  "You're  a  Papist," 
says  the  Protestant.    "  I  appeal  to  Saini  Peter,"  exclaims 


AT  MEETING  OF  CATHOLICS  AT  CORK 


B69 


the  Catholic :  "  I  appeal  to  Saint  Athanasius/'  cries  the  Pro- 
testant: "  and  if  it  goes  to  damning  he's  as  good  at  it  as  any 
saint  in  the  calendar."  You'll  all  be  damned  eternally," 
moans  out  the  Methodist;  "  I'm  the  elect!  " 

Thus  it  is^  you  see,  each  has  his  anathema,  his  accusation, 
and  his  retort;  and  in  the  end  religion  is  the  victim!  The 
victory  of  each  is  the  overthrow  of  all;  and  infidelity,  laugh- 
ing at  the  contest,  writes  the  refutation  of  their  creed  in  the 
blood  of  the  combatants!  I  wonder  if  this  reflection  has 
ever  struck  any  of  those  reverend  dignitaries  who  rear  their 
mitres  against  Catholic  emancipation.  Has  it  ever  glanced 
across  their  Christian  zeal,  if  the  story  of  our  country  should 
have  casually  reached  the  valleys  of  Hindostan,  with  what 
an  argument  they  are  furnishing  the  heathen  world  against 
their  sacred  missionary?  In  what  terms  could  the  Christian 
ecclesiastic  answer  the  Eastern  Bramin,  when  he  replied  to 
his  exhortations  in  language  such  as  this? 

"  Father,  we  have  heard  your  doctrine ;  it  is  splendid  in 
theory,  specious  in  promise,  sublime  in  prospect;  like  the 
world  to  which  it  leads,  it  is  rich  in  the  miracles  of  light. 
But,  Father,  we  have  heard  that  there  are  times  when  its 
rays  vanish  and  leave  your  sphere  in  darkness,  or  when  your 
only  lustre  arises  from  meteors  of  fire  and  moons  of  blood; 
we  have  heard  of  the  verdant  island  which  the  Great  Spirit 
has  raised  in  the  bosom  of  the  waters  with  such  a  bloom  of 
beauty  that  the  very  wave  she  has  usurped  worships  the  love- 
liness of  her  intrusion.  The  sovereign  of  our  forests  is  not 
more  generous  in  his  anger  than  her  sons;  the  snow-flake, 
ere  it  falls  on  the  mountain,  is  not  purer  than  her  daughters; 
little  inland  seas  reflect  the  splendors  of  her  landscape,  and 
her  valleys  smile  at  the  story  of  the  serpent!  Father,  is  it 
true  that  this  isle  of  the  sun,  this  people  of  the  morning,  find 

Vol.  5—24 


370 


CHARLES  PHILLIPS 


the  fury  of  the  ocean  in  your  creed  and  more  than  the  venom 
of  the  viper  in  your  policy?  Is  it  true  that  for  six  hundred 
years  her  peasant  has  not  tasted  peace  nor  her  piety  rested 
from  persecution?  Oh,  Brama!  defend  us  from  the  God  of 
the  Christian!  Father,  Father,  return  to  your  brethren,  re- 
trace the  waters;  we  may  live  in  ignorance,  but  we  live  in 
love;  and  we  will  not  taste  the  tree  that  gives  us  evil  when 
Lt  gives  us  wisdom.  The  heart  is  our  guide,  nature  is  our 
gospel;  in  the  imitation  of  our  fathers  we  found  our  hope; 
and,  if  we  err,  on  the  virtue  of  our  motives  we  rely  for  our 
redemption." 

How  would  the  missionaries  of  the  mitre  answer  him? 
How  will  they  answer  that  insulted  Being  of  whose  creed 
their  conduct  carries  the  refutation? 

But  to  what  end  do  I  argue  with  the  bigot? — a  wretch 
whom  no  philosophy  can  humanize,  no  charity  soften,  no  re- 
ligion reclaim,  no  miracle  convert:  a  monster  who,  red  with 
the  fires  of  hell  and  bending  under  the  crimes  of  earth,  erects 
his  murderous  divinity  upon  a  throne  of  skulls,  and  would 
gladly  feed,  even  with  a  brother's  blood,  the  cannibal  appetite 
of  his  rejected  altar!  His  very  interest  cannot  soften  him 
into  humanity.  Surely  if  it  could,  no  man  would  be  found 
mad  enough  to  advocate  a  system  which  cankers  the  very 
heart  of  society  and  undermines  the  natural  resources  of 
government;  which  takes  away  the  strongest  excitement  to 
industry  by  closing  up  every  avenue  to  laudable  ambition; 
which  administers  to  the  vanity  or  the  vice  of  a  party  when 
it  should  only  study  the  advantage  of  a  people;  and  holds 
out  the  perquisites  of  state  as  an  impious  bounty  on  the  perse- 
cution of  religion. 

I  have  already  shown  that  the  power  of  the  Pope,  that  the 
power  of  France,  and  that  the  tenets  of  your  creed,  were  but 


AT  MEETING  OF  CATHOLICS  AT  CORK 


371 


imaginarv  auxiliaries  to  this  system.  Another  pretended 
obstacle  has,  however,  been  opposed  to  your  emancipation. 
I  allude  to  the  danger  arising  from  a  foreign  influence. 
What  a  triumphant  answer  can  you  give  to  that!  Methinks, 
as  lately,  I  see  the  assemblage  of  your  hallowed  hierarchy, 
surrounded  by  the  priesthood,  and  followed  by  the  people, 
waving  aloft  the  crucifix  of  Christ  alike  against  the  seduc- 
tions of  the  court  and  the  commands  of  the  conclave!  Was 
it  not  a  delightful,  a  heart-cheering  spectacle,  to  see  that  holy 
band  of  brothers  preferring  the  chance  of  martyrdom  to  the 
certainty  of  promotion,  and  postponing  all  the  gratifications 
of  worldly  pride  to  the  severe  but  heaven-gaining  glories  of 
their  poverty?  They  acted  honestly,  and  they  acted  wisely 
also;  for  I  say  here,  before  the  largest  assembly  I  ever  saw 
in  any  country — and  I  believe  you  are  almost  all  Catholics — I 
say  here  that  if  the  see  of  Rome  presumed  to  impose  any 
temporal  mandate  directly  or  indirectly  on  the  Irish  people, 
the  Irish  bishops  should  at  once  abandon  it;  or  the  flocks, 
one  and  all,  would  abjure  and  banish  them  both  together. 
History  affords  us  too  fatal  an  example  of  the  perfidious, 
arrogant,  and  venal  interference  of  a  papal  usurper  of  former 
days,  in  the  temporal  jurisdiction  of  this  country;  an  inter- 
ference assumed  without  right,  exercised  without  principle, 
and  followed  by  calamities  apparently  without  end.  • 

Thus,  then,  has  every  obstacle  vanished:  but  it  has  done 
more — every  obstacle  has,  as  it  were  by  miracle,  produced  a 
powerful  argument  in  your  favor.  How  do  I  prove  it?  Fol- 
low me  in  my  proofs,  and  you  will  see  by  what  links  the  chain 
is  united.  The  power  of  ^^^apoleon  was  the  grand  and  lead- 
ing obstacle  to  your  emancipation.  That  power  led  him  to 
the  menace  of  an  Irish  invasion.  What  did  that  prove? 
Only  the  sincerity  of  Irish  allegiance.    On  the  very  threat, 


372 


CHARLES  PHILLTfS 


we  poured  forth  our  volunteers,  our  yeomen,  and  our  militia; 
and  the  country  became  encircled  with  an  armed  and  a  loyal 
population.  Thus  then  the  calumny  of  your  disaffection 
vanished. 

That  power  next  led  him  to  the  invasion  of  Portugal. 
What  did  it  prove?  Only  the  good  faith  of  Catholic  alle- 
giance. Every  field  in  the  Peninsula  saw  the  Catholic  Por- 
tuguese hail  the  English  Protestant  as  a  brother  and  a  friend, 
joined  in  the  same  pride  and  the  same  peril.  Thus,  then, 
vanished  the  slander  that  you  could  not  keep  faith  with 
heretics.  That  power  next  led  him  to  the  imprisonment  of 
the  Pontiff,  so  long  suspected  of  being  quite  ready  to  sacrifice 
everything  to  his  interest  and  his  dominion.  What  did  that 
prove?  The  strength  of  his  principles,  the  purity  of  his 
faith,  the  disinterestedness  of  his  practice.  It  proved  a  life 
spent  in  the  study  of  the  saints  and  ready  to  be  closed  by  an 
imitation  of  the  martyrs.  Thus,  also,  was  the  head  of  your 
religion  vindicated  to  Europe. 

There  remained  behind  but  one  impediment — ^your  lia- 
bility to  a  foreign  influence.  'Now  mark!  The  Pontiff's  cap- 
tivity led  to  the  transmission  of  Quarantotti's  rescript;  and, 
on  its  arrival,  from  the  priest  to  the  peasant,  there  was  not 
a  Catholic  in  the  land  who  did  not  spurn  the  document  of 
Italian  audacity!  Thus,  then,  vanished  also  the  phantom  of 
a  foreign  influence!  Is  this  conviction?  Is  not  the  hand  of 
God  in  it?  Oh  yes!  for  observe  what  followed.  The  very 
moment  that  power  which  was  the  first  and  last  leading  argu- 
ment against  you  had,  by  its  special  operation,  banished  every 
obstacle,  that  power  itself,  as  it  were  by  enchantment,  evap- 
orated at  once;  and  peace  with  Europe  took  away  the  last  pre- 
tence for  your  exclusion. 

Peace  with  Europe !  alas,  alas,  there  is  no  peace  for  Ireland ! 


AT  MEETING  OF  CATHOLICS  AT  CORK 


373 


The  universal  pacification  was  but  the  signal  for  renewed 
hostility  to  us;  and  the  mockery  of  its  preliminaries  were 
tolled  through  our  provinces  by  the  knell  of  the  curfew.  I 
ask,  is  it  not  time  that  this  hostility  should  cease?  If  ever 
there  was  a  day  when  it  w^as  necessary,  that  day  undoubtedly 
exists  no  longer. 

The  Continent  is  triumphant,  the  Peninsula  is  free,  France 
is  our  ally.  The  hapless  house  which  gave  birth  to  Jacobin- 
ism is  extinct  forever.  The  Pope  has  been  found  not  only 
not  hostile,  but  complying.  Indeed,  if  England  would  recol- 
lect the  share  you  had  in  these  sublime  events,  the  very  recol- 
lection should  subsidize  her  into  gratitude.  But  should 
she  not — should  she,  with  a  baseness  monstrous  and  unparal- 
leled, forget  our  services,  she  has  still  to  study  a  tremendous 
lesson. 

The  ancient  order  of  Europe,  it  is  true,  is  restored;  but 
what  restored  it?  Coalition  after  coalition  had  crumbled 
away  before  the  might  of  the  conqueror;  crowns  were  but 
ephemeral;  monarchs  only  the  tenants  of  an  hour;  the  descend- 
ant of  Frederick  dwindled  into  a  vassal;  the  heir  of  Peter 
shrunk  into  the  recesses  of  his  frozen  desert;  the  successor 
of  Charles  roamed  a  vagabond,  not  only  throneless,  but  house- 
less; every  evening  sun  set  upon  a  change;  every  morning 
dawned  upon  some  new  convulsion;  in  short,  the  whole 
political  globe  quivered  as  with  an  earthquake ;  and  who  could 
tell  what  venerable  monument  was  next  to  shiver  beneath 
the  splendid,  frightful,  and  reposeless  heavings  of  the  French 
volcano?  What  gave  Europe  peace,  and  England  safety, 
amid  this  palsy  of  her  princes?  Was  it  not  the  Landwekr 
and  the  I/andsturm  and  the  Levy  en  Masse  ?  Was  it  not  the 
people — that  first  and  last  and  best  and  noblest,  as  well  as 
safest,  security  of  a  virtuous  government?    It  is  a  glorious 


374 


CHARLES  PHILLIPS 


lesson;  she  ought  to  study  it  in  this  hour  of  safety;  but  should 
she  not  

"  Oh,  woe  be  to  the  Prince  who  rules  by  fear, 
When  danger  comes  upon  him!  " 

She  will  adopt  it.  I  hope  it  from  her  wisdom;  I  expect 
it  from  her  policy;  I  claim  it  from  her  justice;  I  demand  it 
from  her  gratitude.  She  must  at  length  see  that  there  is  a 
gross  mistake  in  the  management  of  Ireland.  'No  wise  man 
ever  yet  imagined  injustice  to  be  his  interest;  and  the  minister 
who  thinks  he  serves  a  state  by  upholding  the  most  irritating 
and  the  most  impious  of  all  monopolies  will  one  day  or  other 
find  himself  miserably  mistaken. 

This  system  of  persecution  is  not  the  way  to  govern  this 
country;  at  least  to  govern  it  with  any  happiness  to  itself  or 
advantage  to  its  rulers.  Centuries  have  proved  its  total  in- 
efficiency; and  if  it  be  continued  for  centuries  the  proofs 
will  be  but  multiplied.  Why,  however,  should  I  blame  the 
English  people  when  I  see  our  own  representatives  so  shame- 
fully negligent  of  our  interest? 

The  other  day,  for  instance,  when  Mr.  Peel  introduced, — 
aye,  and  passed,  too, — his  three  newly  invented  penal  bills,  to 
the  necessity  of  which  every  assizes  in  Ireland  and  as  honest 
a  judge  as  ever  dignified  or  redeemed  the  ermine  has  given, 
the  refutation,  why  was  it  that  no  Irish  member  rose  in  his 
place  to  vindicate  his  country?  Where  were  the  nominal 
representatives  of  Ireland?  Where  were  the  renegade  re- 
vilers  of  the  demagogue?  Where  were  the  noisy  proclaimers 
of  the  board?  What!  was  there  not  one  voice  to  own  the 
country?  Was  the  patriot  of  1782  an  assenting  auditor? 
Were  our  hundred  itinerants  mute  and  motionless — "  quite 
chop-fallen  — or  is  it  only  when  Ireland  is  slandered,  and 
her  motives  misrepresented,  and  her  oppressions  are  basely 


AT  MEETING  OF  CATHOLICS  AT  CORK 


375 


and  falsely  denied,  that  their  venal  throats  are  ready  to  echo 
the  chorus  of  ministerial  calumny? 

Oh,  I  should  not  have  to  ask  those  questions  if  in  the  late 
contest  for  this  city  you  had  prevailed  and  sent  Hutchinson 
into  Parliament ;  he  would  have  risen,  though  alone,  as  I  have 
often  seen  him — richer  not  less  in  hereditary  fame  than  in 
personal  accomplishments,  the  ornament  of  Ireland  as  she  is, 
the  solitary  remnant  of  what  she  was.  If  slander  dared  asperse 
her,  it  would  not  have  done  so  with  impunity.  He  would 
have  encouraged  the  timid;  he  would  have  shamed  the  recre- 
ant; and  though  he  could  not  save  us  from  chains  he  would 
at  least  have  shielded  us  from  calumny. 

Let  me  hope  that  his  absence  shall  be  but  of  short  dura- 
tion, and  that  this  city  will  earn  an  additional  claim  to  the 
gratitude  of  the  country  by  electing  him  her  representative. 
I  scarcely  know  him  but  as  a  public  man ;  and  considering  the 
state  to  which  we  are  reduced  by  the  apostacy  of  some,  and 
the  ingratitude  of  others,  and  venality  of  more,  I  say  you 
should  inscribe  the  conduct  of  such  a  man  in  the  manuals  of 
your  devotion  and  in  the  primers  of  your  children;  but  above 
all  you  should  act  on  it  yourselves. 

My  friends,  farewell!  This  has  been  a  most  unexpected 
meeting  to  me;  it  has  been  our  first — it  may  be  our  last.  I 
can  never  forget  the  enthusiasm  of  this  reception.  I  am  too 
much  affected  by  it  to  make  professions;  but,  believe  me,  no 
matter  where  I  may  be  driven  by  the  whim  of  my  destiny, 
you  shall  find  me  one  in  whom  change  of  place  shall  create 
no  change  of  principle,  on©  whose  memory  must  perish  ere 
he  forgets  his  country,  whose  heart  must  be  cold  when  it  beats 
not  for  her  happiness. 


JOHN  J.  CRITTENDEN 


OHN  Jordan  Crittenden,  American  publicist,  senator,  and  Attorney- 
General  of  the  United  States  in  two  administrations,  was  born  in  Wood- 
ford Co.,  Ky.,  Sept.  10,  1787,  and  died  near  Frankfort,  Ky.,  July  26, 
1863.  He  was  educated  at  William  and  Mary  College,  from  which  he 
graduated  in  1807,  and  later  on  was  admitted  to  the  Bar.  He  saw  military  service 
in  the  War  of  1812,  and  four  years  later  became  a  member  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives in  his  own  State,  and  in  1817-19,  and  again  in  1835-41,  represented  Ken- 
tucky in  the  United  States  Senate.  In  1819,  he  removed  to  Frankfort,  Ky.,  where 
he  attained  distinction  in  his  profession,  and  became  a  friend  and  political  ally  of 
Henry  Clay.  For  a  few  months  in  1841,  he  was  Attorney-General  of  the  United 
States  in  the  Harrison-Tyler  administration,  after  which  he  reentered  the  United 
States  Senate  in  1842,  and  was  a  member  of  that  body  until  he  became,  in  1848, 
Governor  of  Kentucky.  In  President  Fillmore's  Cabinet  he  was  Attorney-General, 
and  again  United  States  Senator  from  1855  to  1861,  where  he  opposed  secession  and 
strove  by  his  speeches  and  resolutions,  known  as  the  "Crittenden  Compromise," 
(which,  however,  did  not  pass  in  the  Chamber),  to  reestablish  the  slave  line  between 
the  opposing  sections  of  the  country  and  to  enforce  the  fugitive  slave  laws.  In  seek- 
ing to  conciliate  contending  sections  and  interests  and,  if  possible,  avert  secession, 
he  delivered  in  the  Senate  the  appended  speech.  From  1861  until  his  death  (1863) 
he  was  a  Unionist  member  of  Congress. 


ON  THE  CRITTENDEN  COMPROMISE 

UNITED  STATES  SENATE,  DECEMBER  i8,  i860 

I AM  gratified,  Mr.  President,  to  see  in  the  various  propo- 
sitions which  have  been  made,  such  a  universal  anxiety 
to  save  the  country  from  the  dangerous  dissensions 
which  now  prevail ;  and  I  have,  under  a  very  serious  view  and 
without  the  least  ambitious  feeling  whatever  connected  with 
it,  prepared  a  series  of  constitutional  amendments,  which  I 
desire  to  offer  to  the  Senate,  hoping  that  they  may  form,  in 
part  at  least,  some  basis  for  measures  that  may  settle  the 
controverted  questions  which  now  so  much  agitate  our  coun- 
(376) 


ON  THE  CRITTENDEN  COMPROMISE 


377 


try.  Certainly,  sir,  I  do  not  propose  now  any  elaborate  dis- 
cussion of  the  subject.  Before  presenting  these  resolutions, 
however,  to  the  Senate,  I  desire  to  make  a  few  remarks  ex- 
planatory of  them,  that  the  Senate  may  understand  their 
general  scope. 

The  questions  of  an  alarming  character  are  those  which 
have  grown  out  of  the  controversy  between  the  northern 
and  southern  sections  of  our  country  in  relation  to  the 
rights  of  the  slave-holding  States  in  the  Territories  of 
the  United  States,  and  in  relation  to  the  rights  of  the  citi- 
zens of  the  latter  in  their  slaves.  I  have  endeavored  by 
these  resolutions  to  meet  all  these  questions  and  causes  of 
discontent,  and  by  amendments  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  so  that  the  settlement,  if  we  happily  agree 
on  any,  may  be  permanent,  and  leave  no  cause  for  fuure 
controversy.  These  resolutions  propose,  then,  in  the  first 
place,  in  substance,  the  restoration  of  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise, extending  the  line  throughout  the  Territories  of 
the  United  States  to  the  eastern  border  of  California,  rec- 
ognizing slavery  in  all  the  territory  south  of  that  line,  and 
prohibiting  slavery  in  all  the  territory  north  of  it;  with  a 
provision,  however,  that  vv^hen  any  of  those  Territories, 
north  or  south,  are  formed  into  States^  they  shall  then  be 
at  liberty  to  exclude  or  admit  slavery  as  they  please ;  and 
that,  in*  the  one  case  or  the  other,  it  shall  be  no  objection 
to  their  admission  into  the  Union.  In  this  way,  sir,  I  pro- 
pose to  settle  the  question,  both  as  to  territory  and  slavery, 
so  far  as  it  regards  the  Territories  of  the  United  States. 

I  propose,  sir,  also,  that  the  Constitution  be  so  amended 
as  to  declare  that  Congress  shall  have  no  power  to  abolish 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia  so  long  as  slavery  exists 
in  the  States  of  Maryland  and  Virginia ;  and  that  they  shall 


378 


JOHN  JORDAN  CRITTENDEN 


have  no  power  to  abolish  slavery  in  any  of  the  places  under 
their  special  jurisdiction  within  the  Southern  States. 

These  are  the  constitutional  amendments  which  I  pro- 
pose, and  embrace  the  whole  of  them  in  regard  to  the 
questions  of  territory  and  slavery.  There  are  other 
propositions  in  relation  to  grievances,  and  in  relation  to 
controversies  which  I  suppose  are  within  the  jurisdiction 
of  Congress,  and  may  be  removed  by  the  action  of  Con- 
gress. I  propose,  in  regard  to  legislative  action,  that  the 
fugitive  slave  law,  as  it  is  commonly  called,  shall  be  de- 
clared by  the  Senate  to  be  a  constitutional  act,  in  strict 
pursuance  of  the  Constitution.  I  propose  to  declare  that 
it  has  been  decided  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  to  be  constitutional,  and  that  the  Southern  States 
are  entitled  to  a  faithful  and  complete  execution  of  that 
law,  and  that  no  amendment  shall  be  made  hereafter  to  it 
which  will  impair  its  efficiency.  But,  thinking  that  it  would 
not  impair  its  efficiency,  I  have  proposed  amendments  to  it 
in  two  particulars.  I  have  understood  from  gentlemen  of 
the  N^orth  that  there  is  objection  to  the  provision  giving  a 
different  fee  where  the  commissioner  decides  to  deliver 
the  slave  to  the  claimant,  from  that  which  is  given  where 
he  decides  to  discharge  the  alleged  slave;  the  law  declares 
that  in  the  latter  case  he  shall  have  but  five  dollars,  while 
in  the  other  he  shall  have  ten  dollars — twice  the  amount  in 
one  case  than  in  the  other.  The  reason  for  this  was  very 
obvious.  In  case  he  delivers  the  servant  to  his  claimant 
he  is  required  to  draw  out  a  lengthy  certificate,  stating  the 
principal  and  substantial  grounds  on  which  his  decision 
rests,  and  to  return  him  either  to  the  marshal  or  to  the 
claimant  to  remove  him  to  the  State  from  which  he  es- 
caped.   It  was  for  that  reason  that  a  larger  fee  was  giver 


ON  THE  CRITTENDEN  COMPROMISE 


379 


to  the  commissioner,  where  he  had  the  largest  service  to 
perform.  But,  sir,  the  act  being  viewed  unfavorably  and 
with  great  prejudice,  in  a  certain  portion  of  the  country, 
this  was  regarded  as  very  obnoxious,  because  it  seemed  to 
give  an  inducement  to  the  commissioner  to  return  the 
slave  to  the  master,  as  he  thereby  obtained  the  larger 
fee  of  ten  dollars  instead  of  the  smaller  one  of  five  dol- 
lars.  I  have  said,  let  the  fee  be  the  same  in  both  cases. 

I  have  understood,  furthermore,  sir,  that  inasmuch  as 
the  fifth  section  of  that  law  was  worded  somewhat  vaguely, 
its  general  terms  had  admitted  of  the  construction  in  the 
N^orthern  States  that  all  the  citizens  were  required,  upon 
the  summons  of  the  marshal,  to  go  with  him  to  hunt  up, 
as  they  express  it,  and  arrest  the  slave ;  and  this  is  re- 
garded as  obnoxious.  They  have  said,  ^'in  the  Southern 
States  you  make  no  such  requisition  on  the  citizen" ;  nor 
do  we  sir.  The  section,  construed  according  to  the  inten- 
tion of  the  framers  of  it,  I  suppose,  only  intended  that  the 
marshal  should  have  the  same  right  in  the  execution  of  pro- 
cess for  the  arrest  of  a  slave  that  he  has  in  all  other  cases  of 
process  that  he  is  required  to  execute — to  call  on  the  posse 
comitatus  for  assistance  where  he  is  resisted  in  the  execution 
of  his  duty,  or  where,  having  executed  his  duty  by  the  ar- 
rest, an  attempt  is  made  to  rescue  the  slave.  I  propose 
such  an  amendment  as  will  obviate  this  difficulty  and  limit 
the  right  of  the  master  and  the  duty  of  the  citizen  to  cases 
where,  as  in  regard  to  all  other  process,  persons  may  be 
called  upon  to  assist  in  resisting  opposition  to  the  execu- 
tion of  the  laws. 

I  have  provided  further,  sir,  that  the  amendment  to  the 
Constitution  which  I  here  propose,  and  certain  other  pro- 
visions of  the  Constitution  itself,  shall  be  unalterable,  there- 


380  JOHN  JORDAN  CRITTENDEN 

by  forming  a  permanent  and  imchangeable  basis  for  peace 
and  tranquillity  among  the  people.  Among  the  provisions 
in  the  present  Constitution,  which  I  have  by  amendment 
proposed  to  render  unalterable,  is  that  provision  in  the 
first  article  of  the  Constitution  which  provides  the  rule  for 
representation,  including  in  the  computation  three-fifths  of 
the  slaves.  That  is  to  be  rendered  unchangeable.  Another 
is  the  provision  for  the  delivery  of  fugitive  slaves.  That  is 
to  be  rendered  unchangeable. 

And  with  these  provisions,  Mr.  President,  it  seems  to 
me  we  have  a  solid  foundation  upon  which  we  may  rest 
our  hopes  for  the  restoration  of  peace  and  goodwill  among 
all  the  States  of  this  Union,  and  all  the  people.  I  propose, 
sir,  to  enter  into  no  particular  discussion.  I  have  explained 
the  general  scope  and  object  of  my  proposition.  I  have  pro- 
vided further,  which  I  ought  to  mention,  that,  there  having 
been  some  difiiculties  experienced  in  the  courts  of  the  United 
States  in  the  South  in  carrying  into  execution  the  laws  pro- 
hibiting the  African  slave  trade,  all  additions  and  amend- 
ments which  may  be  necessary  to  those  laws  to  render  them 
effectual  should  be  immediately  adopted  by  Congress,  and 
especially  the  provision  of  those  laws  which  prohibit  the  im- 
portation of  African  slaves  into  the  United  States.  I  have 
further  provided  it  as  a  recommendation  to  all  the  States  of 
this  Union,  that  whereas  laws  have  been  passed  of  an  un- 
constitutional character  (and  all  laws  are  of  that  character 
which  either  conflict  with  the  constitutional  acts  of  Con- 
gress, or  which  in  their  operation  hinder  or  delay,  the 
proper  execution  of  the  acts  of  Congress),  which  laws  are 
null  and  void,  and  yet,  though  null  and  void,  they  have 
been  the  source  of  mischief  and  discontent  in  the  country, 
under  the  extraordinary  circumstances  in  which  we  are 


ON  THE  CRITTENDEN  COMPROMISE 


381 


placed;  I  have  supposed  that  it  would  not  be  improper 
or  unbecoming  in  Congress  to  recommend  to  the  States, 
both  ]^orth  and  South,  the  repeal  of  all  such  acts  of  theirs 
as  were  intended  to  control,  or  intended  to  obstruct  the 
operation  of  the  acts  of  Congress,  or  which  in  their  opera- 
tion and  in  their  application  have  been  made  use  of  for  the 
purpose  of  such  hindrance  and  opposition,  and  that  they  will 
repeal  these  laws  or  make  such  explanations  or  corrections 
of  them  as  to  prevent  their  being  used  for  any  such  mis- 
chievous purpose. 

I  have  endeavored  to  look  with  impartiality  from  one 
end  of  our  country  to  the  other;  I  have  endeavored  to 
search  up  what  appeared  to  me  to  be  the  causes  of  discon- 
tent pervading  the  land;  and,  as  far  as  I  am  capable  of 
doing  so,  I  have  endeavored  to  propose  a  remedy  for  them. 
I  am  far  from  believing  that,  in  the  shape  in  which  I  pre- 
sent these  measures,  they  will  meet  with  the  acceptance  of 
the  Senate.  It  will  be  sufficiently  gratifying  if,  with  all  the 
amendments  that  the  superior  knowledge  of  the  Senate  may 
make  to  them,  they  shall,  to  any  effectual  extent,  quiet  the 
country. 

Mr.  President,  great  dangers  surround  us.  The  Union 
of  these  States  is  dear  to  the  people  of  the  United  States. 
The  long  experience  of  its  blessings,  the  mighty  hopes  of 
the  future,  have  made  it  dear  to  the  hearts  of  the  American 
people.  Whatever  politicians  may  say,  whatever  of  dissen* 
sion  may,  in  the  heat  of  party  politics,  be  created  among  our 
people,  when  you  come  down  to  the  question  of  the  exist- 
ence of  the  Constitution,  that  is  a  question  beyond  all  poli- 
tics ;  that  is  a  question  of  life  and  death.  The  Constitution 
and  the  Union  are  the  life  of  this  great  people — yes,  sir, 
the  life  of  life.    We  all  desire  to  preserve  them,  [N'orth 


382 


JOHN  JORDAN  CRITTENDEN 


and  South;  that  is  the  universal  desire.  But  some  of  the 
Southern  States,  smarting  under  what  they  conceive  to  be 
aggressions  of  their  ^Torthern  brethren  and  of  the  IN'orthem 
States,  are  not  contented  to  continue  this  Union,  and  are 
taking  steps,  formidable  steps,  tov^ard  a  dissolution  of  the 
Union,  and  toward  the  anarchy  and  the  bloodshed,  I  fear, 
that  are  to  follow.  I  say,  sir,  we  are  in  the  presence  of 
great  events.  We  must  elevate  ourselves  to  the  level 
of  the  great  occasion.  'No  party  warfare  about  mere 
party  questions  or  party  measures  ought  now  to  engage 
our  attention.  They  are  left  behind;  they  are  as  dust  in 
the  balance.  The  life,  the  existence  of  our  country,  of 
our  Union,  is  the  mighty  question ;  and  we  must  elevate 
ourselves  to  all  those  considerations  wh'ch  belong  to  this 
high  subject. 

I  hope,  therefore,  gentlemen  will  be  disposed  to  bring 
the  sincere  spirit  of  conciliation,  the  sincerest  spirit  and 
desire  to  adjust  all  these  difficulties,  and  to  think  nothing 
of  any  little  concessions  of  opinions  that  they  may  make,  if 
thereby  the  Constitution  and  the  country  can  be  preserved. 

The  great  difficulty  here,  sir, — I  know  it;  I  recognize  it 
as  the  difficult  question,  particularly  with  the  gentlemen 
from  the  J^orth — is  the  admission  of  this  line  of  division 
for  the  territory,  and  the  recognition  of  slavery  on  the  one 
side,  and  the  prohibition  of  it  on  the  other.  The  recogni- 
tion of  slavery  on  the  southern  side  of  that  line  is  the  great 
difficulty,  the  great  question  with  them.  Now,  I  beseech 
you  to  think,  and  you,  Mr.  President,  and  all,  to  think 
whether,  for  such  a  comparative  trifle  as  that,  the  Union  of 
this  country  is  to  be  sacrificed.  Have  we  realized  to  our- 
selves the  momentous  consequences  of  such  an  event? 
When  has  the  world  seen  such  an  event?    This  is  a 


ON  THE  CRITTENDEN  COMPROMISE 


383 


mighty  empire.  Its  existence  spreads  its  influence  through- 
out the  civilized  world.  Its  overthrow  will  be  the  greatest 
shock  that  civilization  and  free  government  have  received; 
more  extensive  in  its  consequences;  more  fatal  to  mankind 
and  to  the  great  principles  upon  which  the  liberty  of  man- 
kind depends,  than  the  French  Revolution  with  all  its  blood 
and  with  all  its  war  and  violence.  And  all  for  what  ?  Upon 
questions  concerning  this  line  of  division  between  slavery 
and  freedom.  Why,  Mr.  President,  suppose  this  day  all  the 
Southern  States,  being  refused  this  right ;  being  refused  this 
partition ;  being  denied  this  privilege,  were  to  separate  from 
the  ^sTorthern  States,  and  do  it  peacefully,  and  then  were  to 
come  to  you  peacefully  and  say,  ^'Let  there  be  no  war  be- 
tween us;  let  us  divide  fairly  the  Territories  of  the  United 
States" ;  could  the  northern  section  of  the  country  refuse  so 
just  a  demand?  What  would  you  then  give  them?  What 
would  be  the  fair  proportion?  If  you  allowed  them  their 
fair  relative  proportion,  would  you  not  give  them  as  much 
as  is  now  proposed  to  be  assigned  on  the  southern  side  of 
that  line,  and  would  they  not  be  at  liberty  to  carry  their 
slaves  there,  if  they  pleased?  You  would  give  them  the 
whole  of  that;  and  then  what  would  be  its  fate? 

It  is  upon  the  general  principle  of  humanity,  then,  that 
you  (addressing  Republican  Senators)  wish  to  put  an  end  to 
slavery,  or  is  it  to  be  urged  by  you  as  a  mere  topic  and 
point  of  party  controversy  to  sustain  party  poAver  ?  Surely 
I  give  you  credit  for  looking  at  it  upon  broader  and  more 
generous  principles.  Then,  in  the  worst  event,  after  you 
have  encountered  disunion,  that  greatest  of  all  political  ca- 
lamities to  the  people  of  this  country,  and  the  disunionists 
come,  the  separating  States  come,  and  demand  or  take  their 
portion  of  the  Territories,  they  can  take,  and  will  be  entitled 


384 


JOHN  JORDAN  CRITTENDEN 


to  take,  all  that  will  now  lie  on  the  southern  side  of  the  line 
which  I  have  proposed.  Then  they  will  have  a  right  to  per- 
mit slavery  to  exist  in  it;  and  what  do  you  gain  for  the 
cause  of  anti-slavery?  E'othing  whatever.  Suppose  you 
should  refuse  their  demand,  and  claim  the  whole  for  your- 
selves, that  would  be  a  flagrant  injustice  which  you  would 
not  be  willing  that  T  should  suppose  would  occur.  But  if 
you  did,  what  would  be  the  consequence?  A  State  north 
and  a  State  south,  and  all  the  States,  north  and  south, 
would  be  attempting  to  grasp  at  and  seize  this  territory, 
and  to  get  all  of  it  that  they  could.  That  would  be  the 
struggle,  and  you  would  have  war;  and  not  only  disunion, 
but  all  these  fatal  consequences  would  follow^  from  your 
refusal  now  to  permit  slavery  to  exist,  to  recognize  it  as 
existing,  on  the  southern  side  of  the  proposed  line,  while 
you  give  to  the  people  there  the  right  to  exclude  it  when 
they  come  to  form  a  State  government,  if  such  should  be 
their  will  and  pleasure. 

1^0 w,  gentlemen,  in  view  of  this  subject,  in  view  of  the 
mighty  consequences,  in  view  of  the  great  events  which 
are  present  before  you,  and  of  the  mighty  consequences 
which  are  just  now  to  take  effect,  is  it  not  better  to  settle 
the  question  by  a  division  upon  the  line  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise  ?  For  thirty  years  v/e  lived  quietly  and  peace- 
fully under  it.  Our  people,  ISTorth  and  South,  were  accus- 
tomed to  look  at  it  as  a  proper  and  just  line.  Can  we  not 
do  so  again?  We  did  it  then  to  preserve  the  peace  of  the 
country,  l^ow  you  see  this  Union  in  the  most  imminent 
danger.  I  declare  to  you  that  it  is  my  solenm  conviction 
that  unless  something  be  done,  and  something  equivalent 
to  this  proposition,  we  shall  be  a  separated  and  divided 
people  in  six  months  from  this  time.    That  is  my  firm  con- 


ON  THE  CRITTENDEN  COMPROMISE 


385 


viction.  There  is  no  man  here  who  deplores  it  more  than 
I  do;  but  it  is  my  sad  and  melancholy  conviction  that  that 
will  be  the  consequence.  I  wish  you  to  realize  fully  the 
danger.  I  wish  you  to  realize  fully  the  consequences  which 
are  to  follow.  You  can  give  increased  stability  to  this 
Union;  you  can  give  it  an  existence,  a  glorious  existence, 
for  great  and  glorious  centuries  to  come,  by  now  setting  it 
upon  a  permanent  basis,  recognizing  what  the  South  con- 
siders as  its  rights ;  and  this  is  the  greatest  of  them  all ;  it 
is  that  you  should  divide  the  territory  by  this  line,  and 
allow  the  people  south  of  it  to  have  slavery  when  they  are 
admitted  into  the  Union  as  States  and  to  have  it  during 
the  existence  of  the  territorial  government.  That  is  all.  Is 
it  not  the  cheapest  price  at  which  such  a  blessing  as  this 
Union  was  ever  purchased?  You  think,  perhaps,  or  some 
of  you,  that  there  is  no  danger,  that  it  will  but  thunder 
and  pass  away.  Do  not  entertain  such  a  fatal  delusion.  I 
tell  you  it  is  not  so.  I  tell  you  that  as  sure  as  we  stand 
here  disunion  will  progress.  I  fear  it  may  swallow  up  even 
old  Kentucky  in  its  vortex — as  true  a  State  to  the  Union  as 
yet  exists  in  the  whole  confederacy — unless  something  be 
done ;  but  that  you  will  have  disunion,  that  anarchy  and 
war  will  follow  it,  that  all  this  will  take  place  in  six 
months,  I  believe  as  confidently  as  I  believe  in  your  pres- 
ence.  I  want  to  satisfy  you  of  the  fact.    .    .  . 

The  present  exasperation,  the  present  feeling  of  dis- 
union, is  the  result  of  a  long-continued  controversy  on 
the  subject  of  slavery  and  of  territory.  I  shall  not  attempt 
to  trace  that  controversy;  it  is  unnecessary  to  the  occasion, 
and  might  be  harmful.  In  relation  to  such  controversies, 
I  will  say,  though,  that  all  the  Avrong  is  never  on  one  side, 
or  all  the  right  on  the  other.    Eight  and  wrong,  in  this 

Vol.  5—25 


386 


JOHN  JORDAN  CRITTENDEN 


world,  and  in  all  such  controversies,  are  mingled  together. 
I  forbear  now  any  discussion  or  any  reference  to  the  right 
or  wrong  of  the  controversy,  the  mere  party  controversy; 
but  in  the  progress  of  party,  we  now  come  to  a  point  where 
party  ceases  to  deserve  consideration,  and  the  preservation 
of  the  Union  demands  our  highest  and  our  greatest  exer- 
tions. To  preserve  the  Constitution  of  the  country  is  the 
highest  duty  of  the  Senate,  the  highest  duty  of  Congress — 
to  preserve  it  and  to  perpetuate  it,  that  we  may  hand  down 
the  glories  which  we  have  received  to  our  children  and  to 
our  posterity,  and  to  generations  far  beyond  us.  We  are, 
Senators,  in  positions  where  history  is  to  take  notice  of  the 
course  we  pursue. 

History  is  to  record  us.  Is  it  to  record  that  when  the 
destruction  of  the  Union  was  imminent;  when  we  saw  it 
tottering  to  its  fall;  when  we  saw  brothers  arming  their 
hands  for  hostility  with  one  another,  we  stood  quarreling 
about  points  of  party  politics;  about  questions  which  we 
attempted  to  sanctify  and  to  consecrate  by  appealing  to  our 
conscience  as  the  source  of  them?  Are  we  to  allow  such 
fearful  catastrophes  to  occur  while  we  stand  trifling  away 
our  time?  While  we  stand  thus,  showing  our  inferiority 
to  the  great  and  almighty  dead,  showing  our  inferiority  to 
the  high  positions  which  we  occupy,  the  country  may  be 
destroyed  and  ruined;  and  to  the  amazement  of  all  the 
world,  the  great  Eepublic  may  fall  prostrate  and  in  ruins, 
carrying  with  it  the  very  hope  of  that  liberty  which  we 
have  heretofore  enjoyed;  carrying  with  it,  in  place  of  the 
peace  we  have  enjoyed,  nothing  but  revolution  and  havoc 
and  anarchy.  Shall  it  be  said  that  we  have  allowed  all 
these  evils  to  come  upon  our  country,  while  we  were  en- 
gaged in  the  petty  and  small  disputes  and  debates  to  which 


ON  THE  CRITTENDEN  COMPROMISE 


387 


I  have  referred?  Can  it  be  that  our  name  is  to  rest  in  his- 
tory with  this  everlasting  stigma  and  blot  upon  it? 

Sir,  I  wish  to  God  it  was  in  my  power  to  preserve  this 
Union  by  renouncing  or  agreeing  to  give  up  every  consci- 
entious and  other  opinion.  I  might  not  be  able  to  discard 
it  from  my  mind;  I  am  under  no  obligation  to  do  that.  I 
may  retain  the  opinion,  but  if  I  can  do  so  great  a  good  a^ 
to  preserve  my  country  and  give  it  peace,  and  its  institu- 
tions and  its  Union  stability,  I  will  forego  any  action  upon 
my  opinions.  Well,  now,  my  friends  (addressing  the  Ke- 
publican  Senators),  that  is  all  that  is  asked  of  you.  Con- 
sider it  well,  and  I  do  not  distrust  the  result.  As  to  the 
rest  of  this  body,  the  gentlemen  from  the  South,  I  would 
say  to  them,  can  you  ask  more  than  this?  Are  you  bent 
on  revolution,  bent  on  disunion?  God  forbid  it.  I  cannot 
believe  that  such  madness  possesses  the  American  people. 
This  gives  reasonable  satisfaction.  I  can  speak  with  confi- 
dence only  of  my  own  State.  Old  Kentucky  will  be  satis- 
fied vdth  it,  and  she  will  stand  by  the  Union  and  die  by 
the  Union  if  this  satisfaction  be  given.  E'othing  shall  se- 
duce her.  The  clamor  of  no  revolution,  the  seductions  and 
temptations  of  no  revolution,  will  tempt  her  to  move  one 
step.  She  has  stood  always  by  the  side  of  the  Constitution ; 
she  has  always  been  devoted  to  it,  and  is  this  day.  Give 
her  this  satisfaction,  and  I  believe  all  the  States  of  the 
South  that  are  not  desirous  of  disunion  as  a  better  thing 
than  the  Union  and  the  Constitution,  will  be  satisfied  and 
will  adhere  to  the  Union,  and  we  shall  go  on  again  in  our 
great  career  of  national  prosperity  and  national  glory. 

But,  sir,  it  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  speak  to  you  of 
the  consequences  that  will  follow  disunion.  Who  of  us  is 
not  proud  of  the  greatness  we  have  achieved?  Disunion 


38b 


JOHN  JORDAN  CRITTENDEN 


and  separation  destroy  that  greatness.  Once  disunited,  we 
are  no  longer  great.  The  nations  of  the  earth  who  have 
looked  upon  you  as  a  formidable  Power,  and  rising  to  un- 
told and  immeasurable  greatness  in  the  future,  will  scoff  at 
you.  Your  flag,  that  now  claims  the  respect  of  the  world, 
that  protects  American  property  in  every  port  and  harbor 
of  the  world,  that  protects  the  rights  of  your  citizens  every- 
where, what  will  become  of  it?  What  becomes  of  its  glor- 
ious influence  ?  It  is  gone ;  and  with  it  the  protection  of 
American  citizens  and  property.  To  say  nothing  of  the  na- 
tional honor  which  is  displayed  to  all  the  world,  the  protec- 
tion of  your  rights,  the  protection  of  your  property  abroad 
is  gone  with  that  national  flag,  and  we  are  hereafter  to  con- 
jure and  contrive  different  flags  for  our  different  republics 
according  to  the  feverish  fancies  of  revolutionary  patriots 
and  disturbers  of  the  peace  of  the  world.  'Noj  sir;  I  want 
to  follow  no  such  flag.  I  want  to  preserve  the  union  of 
my  country.  We  have  it  in  our  power  to  do  so,  and  we 
are  responsible  if  we  do  not  do  it. 

I  do  not  despair  of  the  Kepublic.  When  I  see  before 
me  Senators  of  so  much  intelligence  and  so  much  patriot- 
ism, who  have  been  so  honored  by  their  country,  sent  here 
as  the  guardians  of  that  very  Union  which  is  now  in  ques- 
tion, sent  here  as  the  guardians  of  our  national  rights,  and 
as  guardians  of  that  national  flag,  I  cannot  despair:  I  can- 
not despond.  I  cannot  but  believe  that  they  will  find  some 
means  of  reconciling  and  adjusting  the  rights  of  all  parties, 
by  concessions,  if  necessary,  so  as  to  preserve  and  give  more 
stability  to  the  country  and  to  its  institutions. 


FRANCOIS  PIERRE  GUILEAUME  GUIZOT 


GUIZOT 


BSHK^RANCOis  Pierre  Guillaume  Guizot,  an  eminent  French  historian, 
^^HJ^  statesman,  and  constitutional  royalist,  was  born  at  Nimes,  France,  Oct. 
ffibB&-(ow  4,  1787,  where  his  family,  who  were  Protestants,  had  long  occupied  a 
high  place  among  the  burghers  of  that  city,  and  died  at  Val-Richer, 
Normandy,  Oct.  12,  1874.  Educated  at  Geneva,  he  proceeded  in  1805  to  Paris  to  pre- 
pare for  the  Bar,  but  for  some  years  devoted  himself  entirely  to  literary  pursuits.  In 
1812,  he  was  appointed  professor  of  Modern  History  at  the  Sorbonne,  Paris,  and,  after 
the  restoration  of  the  Bourbons,  became  Secretary-General  of  the  Interior.  In  1816, 
he  was  promoted  to  the  Council  of  State  and  to  the  general  directorship  of  the  depart- 
mental and  communal  administration  of  the  kingdom.  Having  become,  with  Royer- 
Collard,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Liberal  party,  styled  "doctrinaires,"  he  became 
obnoxious  to  the  friends  of  reaction,  and  in  1821  was  deprived  of  his  offices ;  four 
years  later,  he  was  even  prohibited  from  delivering  lectures.  The  following  five  years, 
during  which  he  acted  as  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Liberal  Opposition,  constituted  the 
period  of  his  greatest  literary  activity.  He  published  during  this  period  and  subse- 
quently a  "History  of  Representative  Government,"  a  "History  of  the  Revolution  in 
England,"  "Meditations  and  Moral  Studies,"  and  "On  the  Essence  of  Religion,"  with 
a  "Life  of  Washington"  and  a  translation  of  Shakespeare.  Permitted  in  1828  to 
resume  the  duties  of  his  professorial  chair,  he  delivered  a  course  of  lectures  which 
raised  his  reputation  as  a  historian  to  a  great  height,  and  formed  the  basis  of  his  gen- 
eral "History  of  Civilization  in  Europe,"  and  "History  of  Civilization  in  France." 
When  Louis  Philippe  became  King  of  the  French,  the  Ministry  of  the  Interior  Tvas 
given  to  Guizot.  Subsequently,  he  became  Minister  of  Public  Instruction,  and  to  a 
large  extent  must  be  regarded  as  the  creator  of  the  existing  educational  establishmenta 
in  France.  In  1840,  he  accepted  the  post  of  Ambassador  at  London,  but  in  October  of 
the  same  year  became  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  to  which,  subsequently,  he  added 
the  post  of  Premier.  His  administration  lasted  for  eight  years,  being  the  longest 
which  existed  under  the  constitutional  monarchy.  When  the  government  of  Louis 
Philippe  was  overthrown,  in  1848,  he  took  refuge  in  impoverished  circumstances  in 
London,  There,  relate«  an  authority,  "the  society  of  England  received  the  fallen 
statesman  with  as  much  distinction  and  respect  as  they  had  shown  eight  years  before 
to  the  King's  ambassador,  though  many  disapproved  of  much  of  his  recent  policy. 
Sums  of  money  were  placed  at  his  disposal,  which  he  declined.  A  professorship  at 
Oxford  was  spoken  of,  which  he  was  unable  to  accept.  His  old  friends  resumed  their 
relations  with  him.  For  himself,  serene  and  undisturbed  by  a  catastrophe  which 
had  shaken  Europe,  he  immediately  collected  a  few  books  and  resumed  the  narrative 
of  the  British  Commonwealth,  until  he  brought  it  down  to  Monk  and  Richard 
Cromwell."  Guizot  survived  the  fall  of  the  monarchy  twenty-six  years,  and  in  his 
later  years  wrote  the  "Memoirs  of  My  Own  Time"  and  a  "History  of  France, 
related^  to  My  Grandchildren." 

(389) 


390  GUI20T 


CIVILIZATION  AND  THE  INDIVIDUAL  MAN 

BEIi^G  called  upon  to  give  a  course  of  lectures,  and 
having  considered  what  subject  would  be  most 
agreeable  and  convenient  to  fill  up  the  short  space 
allowed  us  from  now  to  the  close  of  the  year,  it  has  oc- 
curred to  me  that  a  general  sketch  of  the  history  of  modem 
Europe,  considered  more  especially  with  regard  to  the 
progress  of  civilization — that  a  general  survey  of  the  his- 
tory of  European  civilization,  of  its  origin,  its  progress, 
its  end,  its  character,  would  be  the  most  profitable  subject 
upon  which  I  could  engage  your  attention.  .  .  . 

I  shall  commence  this  investigation  by  placing  before 
you  a  series  of  hypotheses.  I  shall  describe  society  in 
various  conditions,  and  shall  then  ask  if  the  state  in  which 
I  so  describe  it  is,  in  the  general  opinion  of  mankind,  the 
state  of  a  people  advancing  in  civilization — if  it  answer  to 
the  signification  which  mankind  generally  attaches  to  this 
word. 

First,  imagine  a  people  whose  outward  circumstances 
are  easy  and  agreeable :  few  taxes,  few  hardships ;  justice 
is  fairly  administered;  in  a  word,  physical  existence,  taken 
altogether,  is  satisfactorily  and  happily,  regulated.  But 
with  all  this,  the  moral  and  intellectual  energies  of  this 
people  are  studiously  kept  in  a  state  of  torpor  and  inert- 
ness. It  can  hardly  be  called  oppression;  its  tendency  is 
not  of  that  character — it  is  rather  compression.  We  are 
not  without  examples  of  this  state  of  society.  There  have 
been  a  great  number  of  little  aristocratic  republics  in  which 
the  people  have  been  thus  treated,  like  so  many  flocks  of 


CIVILIZATION   AND  THE   INDIVIDUAL  MAN 


391 


sheep,  carefully  tended,  physically  happy,  but  without 
the  least  intellectual  and  moral  activity.  Is  this  civiliza- 
tion? Do  we  recognize  here  a  people  in  a  state  of  moral 
and  social  advancement? 

Let  us  take  another  hypothesis.  Let  us  imagine  a  peo- 
ple whose  outward  circumstances  are  less  favorable  and 
agreeable;  still,  however,  supportable.  As  a  set-off,  its 
intellectual  and  moral  cravings  have  not  here  been  en- 
tirely neglected.  A  certain  range  has  been  allowed  them 
— some  few  pure  and  elevated  sentiments  have  been  here 
distributed;  religious  and  moral  notions  have  reached  a 
certain  degree  of  improvement;  but  the  greatest  care  has 
been  taken  to  stifle  every  principle  of  liberty.  The  moral 
and  intellectual  wants  of  this  people  are  provided  for  in 
the  way  that,  among  some  nations,  the  physical  wants  have 
been  provided  for;  a  certain  portion  of  truth  is  doled  out 
to  each,  but  no  one  is  permitted  to  help  himself — to  seek 
for  truth  on  his  own  account.  Immobility  is  the  character 
of  its  moral  life;  and  to  this  condition  are  fallen  most  of 
the  populations  of  Asia,  in  which  theocratic  government 
restrains  the  advance  of  man:  such,  for  example,  is  the 
state  of  the  Hindus.  I  again  put  the  same  question  as 
before:  Is  this  a  people  among  whom  civilization  is 
going  on? 

I  will  change  entirely  the  nature  of  the  hypothesis: 
Suppose  a  people  among  whom  there  reigns  a  very  large 
stretch  of  personal  liberty,  but  among  whom  also  disorder 
and  inequality  almost  everywhere  abound.  The  weak  are 
oppressed,  afflicted,  destroyed;  violence  is  the  ruling  char- 
acter of  the  social  condition.  Every  one  knows  that  such 
has  been  the  state  of  Europe.  Is  this  a  civilized  state? 
It  may,  without  doubt,  contain  germs  of  civilization  which 


392 


GUIZOT 


may  progressively  shoot  up;  but  the  actual  state  of  things 
which  prevails  in  this  society  is  not,  we  may  rest  assured, 
what  the  common -sense  of  mankind  would  call  civilization. 

1  pass  on  to  a  fourth  and  last  hypothesis,  livery  indi- 
vidual here  enjoys  the  widest  extent  of  liberty;  inequality 
is  rare,  or,  at  least,  of  a  very  slight  character.  Every  one 
does  as  he  likes,  and  scarcely  differs  in  power  from  his 
neighbor.  But  then  here  scarcely  such  a  thing  is  known 
as  a  general  interest;  here  exist  but  few  public  ideas; 
hardly  any  public  feeling;  but  little  society;  in  short,  the 
life  and  faculties  of  individuals  are  put  forth  and  spent 
in  an  isolated  state,  with  but  little  regard  to  society,  and 
with  scarcely  a  sentiment  of  its  influence.  Men  here  exer- 
cise no  influence  upon  one  another;  they  leave  no  traces 
of  their  existence.  Generation  after  generation  pass  away, 
leaving  society  just  as  they  found  it.  Such  is  the  condi- 
tion of  the  various  tribes  of  savages;  liberty  and  equality 
dwell  among  them,  but  no  touch  of  *' civilization. 

I  could  easily  multiply  these  hypotheses,  but  I  presume 
that  I  have  gone  far  enough  to  show  what  is  the  popular 
and  natural  signification  of  the  word  "civilization." 

It  is  evident  that  none  of  the  states  which  I  have  just 
described  will  correspond  with  the  common  notion  of  man- 
kind respecting  this  term.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  first 
idea  comprised  in  the  word  "civilization"  (and  this  may 
be  gathered  from  the  various  examples  which  I  have  placed 
before  you)  is  the  notion  of  progress,  of  development.  It 
calls  up  within  us  the  notion  of  a  people  advancing,  of 
a  people  in  a  course  of  improvement  and  melioration. 

Now,  what  is  this  progress?  What  is  this  develop- 
ment? In  this  is  the  great  difficulty.  The  etymology  of 
the  word  seems  sufficiently  obvious — it  points  at  once  to 


CIVILIZATION   AND  THE   INDIVIDUAL  MAN 


393 


the  improvement  of  civil  life.  The  first  notion  which 
strikes  us  in  pronouncing  it  is  the  progress  of  society ;  the 
melioration  of  the  social  state;  the  carrying  to  higher  per- 
fection the  relations  between  man  and  man.  It  awakens 
within  us  at  once  the  notion  of  an  increase  of  national 
prosperity,  of  a  greater  activity  and  better  organization 
of  the  social  relations.  On  one  hand  there  is  a  manifest 
increase  in  the  power  and  well-being  of  society  at  large; 
and  on  the  other  a  more  equitable  distribution  of  this 
power  and  this  well-being  among  the  individuals  of  which 
society  is  composed. 

But  the  word  "civilization"  has  a  more  extensive  sig- 
nification than  this,  which  seems  to  confine  it  to  the  mere 
outward,  physical  organization  of  society.  Kow,  if  this 
were  all,  the  human  race  would  be  little  better  than  the 
inhabitants  of  an  ant-hill  or  beehive;  a  society  in  which 
nothing  was  sought  for  beyond  order  and  well-being — in 
which  the  highest,  the  sole  aim,  would  be  the  production 
of  the  means  of  life,  and  their  equitable  distribution. 

But  our  nature  at  once  rejects  this  definition  as  too 
narrowo  It  tells  us  that  man  is  formed  for  a  higher  des- 
tiny than  this.  That  this  is  not  the  full  development  of 
his  character — that  civilization  comprehends  something  more 
extensive,  something  more  complex,  something  superior  to 
the  perfection  of  social  relations,  of  social  power  and  well- 
being. 

That  this  is  so,  we  have  not  merely  the  evidence  of  our 
nature,  and  that  derived  from  the  signification  which  the 
common-sense  of  mankind  has  attached  to  the  word,  but 
we  have  likewise  the  evidence  of  facts. 

No  one,  for  example,  will  deny  that  there  are  commu- 
nities in  which  the  social  state  of  man  is  better — in  which 


394 


GUIZOT 


the  means  of  life  are  better  supplied,  are  more  rapidly  pro- 
duced, are  better  distributed  than  in  others,  which  yet  will 
be  pronounced  by  the  unanimous  voice  of  mankind  to  be 
superior  in  point  of  civilization. 

Take  Rome,  for  example,  in  the  splendid  days  of  the 
Republic,  at  the  close  of  the  second  Punic  War;  the  mo- 
ment of  her  greatest  virtues,  when  she  was  rapidly  ad- 
vancing to  the  empire  of  the  world — when  her  social  con- 
dition was  evidently  improving.  Take  Rome  again  under 
Augustus,  at  the  commencement  of  her  decline,  when,  to 
say  the  least,  the  progressive  movement  of  society  halted, 
when  bad  priaciples  seemed  ready  to  prevail;  but  is  there 
any  person  who  would  not  say  that  Rome  was  more  civil- 
ized under  Augustus  than  in  the  days  of  Fabricius  or 
Cincinnatus? 

Let  us  look  further;  let  us  look  at  France  in  the  seven- 
teenth and  eighteenth  centuries.  In  a  merely  social  point 
of  view,  as  respects  the  quantity  and  the  distribution  of 
well-being  among  individuals,  France,  in  the  seventeenth 
and  eighteenth  centuries,  was  decidedly  inferior  to  several 
of  the  other  States  of  Europe;  to  Holland  and  England  in 
particular.  Social  activity,  in  these  countries,  was  greater, 
increased  more  rapidly,  and  distributed  its  fruits  more 
equitably  among  individuals.  Yet  consult  the  general 
opinion  of  mankind,  and  it  will  tell  you  that  France  in 
the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  was  the  most 
civilized  country  of  Europe.  Europe  has  not  hesitated  to 
acknowledge  this  fact,  and  evidence  of  its  truth  will  be 
found  in  all  the  great  works  of  European  literature. 

It  appears  evident,  then,  that  all  that  we  understand 
by  this  term  is  not  comprised  in  the  simple  idea  of  social 
well-being  and  happiness;  and,  if  we  look  a  little  deeper, 


CIVILIZATION  AND  THE  INDIVIDUAL  MAN 


395 


we  discover  that,  besides  the  progress  and  melioratiou  of 
social  iiie,  another  development  is  comprised  in  our  notion 
of  civilization:  namely,  the  development  of  individual  life, 
the  development  of  the  human  mind  and  its  faculties — the 
development  of  man  himself. 

It  is  this  development  which  so  strikingly  manifested 
itself  in  France  and  Rome  at  these  epochs;  it  is  this  ex- 
pansion of  human  intelligence  which  gave  to  them  so  great 
a  degree  of  superiority  in  civilization.  In  these  countries 
the  godlike  principle  which  distinguishes  man  from  the 
brute  exhibited  itself  with  peculiar  graudeur  and  power, 
and  compensated  in  the  eyes  of  the  world  for  the  defects 
of  their  social  system.  These  communities  had  still  many 
social  conquests  to  make,  but  they  had  already  glorified 
themselves  by  the  intellectual  and  moral  victories  they 
had  achieved.  Many  of  the  conveniences  of  life  were  here 
wanting;  from  a  considerable  portion  of  the  community 
were  still  withheld  their  natural  ris^hts  and  political  privi- 
leges; but  see  the  number  of  illustrious  individuals  who 
lived  and  earned  the  applause  and  approbation  of  their 
fellowmen.  Here,  too,  literature,  science,  and  art  attained 
extraordinary  perfection,  and  shone  in  more  splendor  than 
perhaps  they  had  ever  done  before.  Now,  wherever  this 
takes  place,  wherever  man  sees  these  glorious  idols  of  his 
worship  displayed  in  their  full  lustre — wherever  he  sees 
this  fund  of  rational  and  refined  enjoyment  for  the  godlike 
part  of  his  nature  called  into  existence,  there  he  recognizes 
and  adores  civilization. 

Two  elements,  then,  seem  to  be  comprised  in  the  great 
fact  which  we  call  civilization;  two  circumstances  are  nec- 
essary to  its  existence — it  lives  upon  two  conditions — it  re- 
veals itself  by  two  symptoms:  the  progress  of  society,  the 


396 


GUIZOT 


progress  of  individuals;  the  melioration  of  the  social  sys- 
tem, and  the  expansion  of  the  mind  and  faculties  of  man. 
Wherever  the  exterior  condition  of  man  becomes  enlarged, 
quickened,  and  improved;  wherever  the  intellectual  nature 
of  man  distinguishes  itself  by  its  energy,  brilliancy,  and  its 
grandeur;  wherever  these  two  signs  concur,  and  they  often 
do  so,  notwithstanding  the  gravest  imperfections  in  the 
social  system,  there  man  proclaims  and  applauds  civili- 
zation. 

Such,  if  I  mistake  not,  would  be  the  notion  mankind  in 
general  would  form  of  civilization  from  a  simple  and  ra- 
tional inquiry  into  the  meaning  of  the  term.  This  view 
of  it  is  confirmed  by  history.  If  we  ask  of  her  what  has 
been  the  character  of  every  great  crisis  favorable  to  civ- 
ilization, if  we  examine  those  great  events  which  all  ac- 
knowledge to  have  carried  it  forward,  we  shall  always 
find  one  or  other  of  the  two  elements  which  I  have  just 
described.  They  have  all  been  epochs  of  individual  or 
social  improvement — events  which  have  either  wrought  a 
change  in  individual  man,  in  his  opinions,  his  manners; 
or,  in  his  exterior  condition,  his  situation  as  regards  his 
relations  with  his  fellowmen.  Christianity,  for  example 
— I  allude  not  merely  to  the  first  moment  of  its  appear- 
ance, but  to  the  first  centuries  of  its  existence — Christi- 
anity was  in  no  way  addressed  to  the  social  condition  of 
man;  it  distinctly  disclaimed  all  interference  with  it.  It 
commanded  the  slave  to  obey  his  master.  It  attacked 
none  of  the  great  evils,  none  of  the  gross  acts  of  injus- 
tice by  which  the  social  system  of  that  day  was  disfigured; 
yet  who  but  will  acknowledge  that  Christianity  has  been 
one  of  the  greatest  promoters  of  civilization?  And  where- 
fore?   Because  it  has  changed  the  interior  condition  of 


CIVILIZATION    AND  THE  INDIVIDUAL  MAN 


897 


man,  hie  opinions,  his  sentiments;  because  it  has  regen- 
erated his  moral,  his  intellectual  character. 

We  have  seen  a  crisis  of  an  opposite  nature;  a  crisis 
affecting  not  the  intellectual,  but  the  outward  condition  of 
man,  which  has  changed  and  regenerated  society.  This 
also,  we  may  rest  assured,  is  a  decisive  crisis  of  civiliza- 
tion. If  we  search  history  through,  we  shall  everywhere 
find  the  same  result;  we  shall  meet  with  no  important 
event,  which  had  a  direct  influence  in  the  advancement 
of  civilization,  which  has  not  exercised  it  in  one  of  the 
two  ways  I  have  just  mentioned.  .  .  . 

When  any  great  change  takes  place  in  the  state  of  a 
country — when  any  great  development  of  social  prosperity 
is  accomplished  within  it — any  revolution  or  reform  in  the 
powers  and  privileges  of  society,  this  new  event  naturally 
has  its  adversaries.  It  is  necessarily  contested  and  op- 
posed. Now  what  are  the  objections  which  the  adver- 
saries of  such  revolutions  bring  against  them? 

They  assert  that  this  progress  of  the  social  condition 
is  attended  with  no  advantage;  that  it  does  not  improve 
in  a  corresponding  degree  the  moral  state — the  intellectual 
powers  of  man ;  that  it  is  a  false,  deceitful  progress,  which 
proves  detrimental  to  his  moral  character,  to  the  true  inter- 
ests of  his  better  nature.  On  the  other  hand,  this  attack  is 
repulsed  with  much  force  by  the  friends  of  the  movement. 
They  maintain  that  the  progress  of  society  necessarily  leads 
to  the  progress  of  intelligence  and  morality;  that,  in  pro- 
portion as  the  social  life  is  better  regulated,  individual 
life  becomes  more  refined  and  virtuous.  Thus  the  ques- 
tion rests  in  abeyance  between  the  opposers  and  partisans 
of  the  change. 

But  reverse  this  hypothesis:  suppose  the  moral  devel- 


398 


QUIZOT 


opment  in  progress.  What  do  the  men  who  labor  for  it 
generally  hope  for?  What,  at  the  origin  of  societies,  have 
the  founders  of  religion,  the  sages,  poets,  and  philoso- 
phers, who  have  labored  to  regulate  and  refine  the  manners 
of  mankind,  promised  themselves?  What  but  the  melio- 
ration of  the  social  condition;  the  more  equitable  distri- 
bution of  the  blessings  of  life?  What,  now,  let  me  ask, 
should  be  inferred  from  this  dispute  and  from  those  hopes 
and  promises?  It  may,  I  think,  be  fairly  inferred  that  it 
is  the  spontaneous,  intuitive  conviction  of  mankind;  that 
the  two  elements  of  civilization — the  social  and  moral  de- 
velopment— are  intimately  connected;  that,  at  the  approach 
of  one,  man  looks  for  the  other.  It  is  to  this  natural  con- 
viction we  appeal  when,  to  second  or  combat  either  one  or 
the  other  of  the  two  elements,  we  deny  or  attest  its  union 
with  the  other.  We  know  that  if  men  were  persuaded 
that  the  melioration  of  the  social  condition  would  operate 
against  the  expansion  of  the  intellect,  they  would  almost 
oppose  and  cry  out  against  the  advancement  of  society. 
On  the  other  hand,  when  we  speak  to  mankind  of  im- 
proving society  by  improving  its  individual  members, 
we  find  them  willing  to  believe  us,  and  to  adopt  the  prin- 
ciple. Hence,  we  may  affirm  that  it  is  the  intuitive  be- 
lief of  man  that  these  two  elements  of  civilization  are 
intimately  connected,  and  that  they  reciprocally  produce 
one  another. 

If  we  now  examine  the  history  of  the  world,  we  shall 
have  the  same  result.  We  shall  find  that  every  expansion 
of  human  intelligence  has  proved  of  advantage  to  society; 
and  that  all  the  great  advances  in  the  social  condition  have 
turned  to  the  profit  of  humanity.  One  or  other  of  these 
facts  may  predominate,  may  shine  forth  with  greater  splen- 


CIVILIZATION  AND  THE  INDIVIDUAL  MAN 


399 


der  for  a  season,  and  impress  upon  the  movement  its  own 
particular  character.  At  times,  it  may  not  be  till  after  the 
lapse  of  a  long  interval,  after  a  thousand  transformations,  a 
thousand  obstacles,  that  the  second  shows  itself  and  comes, 
as  it  were,  to  complete  the  civilization  which  the  first  had 
begun;  but  when  we  look  closely,  we  easily  recognize  the 
link  by  which  they  are  connected.  The  movements  of 
Providence  are  not  restricted  to  narrow  bounds;  it  is  not 
anxious  to  deduce  to-day  the  consequences  of  the  premises 
it  laid  down  yesterday.  It  may  defer  this  for  ages,  till  the 
fulness  of  time  shall  come.  Its  logic  will  not  be  less  con- 
clusive for  reasoning  slowly.  Providence  moves  through 
time,  as  the  gods  of  Homer  through  space — it  makes  a 
step,  and  ages  have  rolled  away!  How  long  a  time,  how 
many  circumstances  intervened,  before  the  regeneration  of 
the  moral  powers  of  man  by  Christianity  exercised  its 
great,  its  legitimate  influence  upon  his  social  condition  ?  Yet 
who  can  doubt  or  mistake  its  power  ? 

If  we  pass  from  history  to  the  nature  itself  of  the  two 
facts  which  constitute  civilization,  we  are  infallibly  led 
to  the  same  result.  We  have  all  experienced  this.  If  a 
man  make  a  mental  advance^  some  mental  discovery,  if  he 
acquire  some  new  idea,  or  some  new  faculty,  what  is  the 
desire  that  takes  possession  of  him  at  the  very  moment  he 
makes  it?  It  is  the  desire  to  promulgate  his  sentiment  to 
the  exterior  world — to  publish  and  reialize  his  thought. 
When  a  man  acquires  a  new  truth — when  his  being  in 
his  own  eyes  has  made  an  advance,  has  acquired  a  new 
gift,  immediately  there  becomes  joined  to  this  acquirement 
the  notion  of  a  mission.  He  feels  obliged,  impelled,  as  it 
were,  by  a  secret  interest,  to  extend,  to  carry  out  of  himself 
the  change,  the  melioration  which  has  been  accomplished 


400 


GUIZOT 


within  him.  To  what  but  this  do  we  owe  the  exertions 
of  great  reformers?  The  exertions  of  those  great  bene- 
factors of  the  human  race,  who  have  changed  the  face  of 
the  world,  after  having  first  been  changed  themselves, 
have  been  stimulated  and  governed  by  no  other  impulse 
than  this. 

So  much  for  the  change  which  takes  place  in  the  in- 
tellectual man.  Let  us  now  consider  him  in  a  social 
state.  A  revolution  is  made  in  the  condition  of  society. 
Rights  and  property  are  more  equitably  distributed  among 
individuals;  this  is  as  much  as  to  say,  the  appearance  of 
the  world  is  purer — is  more  beautiful.  The  state  of  things, 
both  as  respects  governments,  and  as  respects  men  in  their 
relations  with  each  other,  is  improved.  And  can  there  be  a 
question  whether  the  sight  of  this  goodly  spectacle,  whether 
the  melioration  of  this  external  condition  of  man,  will  have 
a  corresponding  influence  upon  his  moral,  his  individual 
character — upon  humanity  ?  Such  a  doubt  would  belie  all 
that  is  said  of  the  authority  of  example  and  of  the  power 
of  habit,  which  is  founded  upon  nothing  but  the  convic- 
tion that  exterior  facts  and  circumstances,  if  good,  reason- 
able, well-regulated,  are  followed,  sooner  or  later,  more  or 
less  completely,  b}^  intellectual  results  of  the  same  nature, 
of  the  same  beauty;  that  a  world  better  governed,  better 
regulated,  a  world  in  which  justice  more  fully  prevails, 
renders  man  himself  more  just;  that  the  intellectual  man, 
then,  is  instructed  and  improved  by  the  superior  condition 
of  society,  and  his  social  condition,  his  external  well-being, 
meliorated  and  refined  by  increase  of  intelligence  in  indi- 
viduals; that  the  two  elements  of  civilization  are  strictly 
connected;  that  ages,  that  obstacles  of  all  kinds,  may  in- 
terpose between  them;  that  it  is  possible  they  may  un- 


AT  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  PAEIS 


401 


dergo  a  thousand  transformations  before  they  meet  to- 
gether; but  that  sooner  or  later  this  union  will  take  place 
is  certain,  for  it  is  a  law  of  their  nature  that  they  should 
do  so — the  great  facts  of  history  bear  witness  that  such  is 
really  the  case — the  instinctive  belief  of  man  proclaims  the 
same  truth. 


ADDRESS  AT  THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  PRIZES  AT  THE 
UNIVERSITY  OF  PARIS 

DELIVERED  AUGUST  lo,  1833 

YOUNG  STUDENTS —It  would  be  impossible  for  any 
one  here  present  to  say  for  whom  this  occasion  has 
the  most  charm, — for  you  who  come  here  to  receive 
the  crowns  which  you  have  won,  for  your  friends  who  see 
them  placed  upon  your  heads,  or  for  your  instructors  who 
have  taught  you  how  to  deserve  them. 

Teachers,  friends,  pupils,  enjoy  to  the  utmost  this  festival, 
for  it  is  the  worthy  reward  of  a  yearns  regular  and  assiduous 
labor.  Discipline  has  everywhere  maintained  order,  which  is 
the  only  guarantee  of  effectual  work  and  legitimate  success. 
Ideas  foreign  to  the  acquisition  of  knowledge  have  not  been 
allowed  to  divert  the  attention  or  weaken  the  mind.  Youth 
animated,  as  it  should  be,  by  enthusiasm,  fervid  yet  controlled, 
has  applied  itself  to  the  achievement  of  victories  which  to-day 
we  proclaim.  The  course  of  study  itself  has  experienced  the 
effect  of  this  salutary  influence.  More  varied  than  at  any 
other  epoch,  it  is  no  less  solid,  which  is  the  only  condition 
under  which  the  extension  of  instruction  can  be  called  pro- 
gress. Without  doubt,  just  in  proportion  as  the  human  mind 
explores  new  fields,  public  instruction  should  follow  and  in- 
crease with  it.    But  if  it  should  lose  its  force,  if  understand- 

Vol.  5—26 


402 


GUIZOT 


ing  and  appreciation  of  the  enduring  standards  of  truth  and 
beauty  were  to  become  less,  then  there  would  be  in  its  place 
only  decadence. 

It  is  possible  for  intellects,  like  empires,  to  decline  and  be- 
come enfeebled  through  excess  of  pride  and  acquisition. 
Taken  by  itself  the  amount  of  knowledge  acquired  at  your 
age  is  of  small  account,  but  to  come  from  our  schools  with 
minds  sound,  active,  discriminating,  well-trained,  that  makes 
you  worthy  of  your  country's  pride. 

It  is  in  maintaining  the  intimate  alliance  of  letters,  of  phi- 
losophy, and  of  science  that  we  obtain  the  best  results.  What 
time,  what  circumstances,  were  ever  more  propitious  for  it 
than  our  own?  It  is  the  honor  of  the  government  that 
France  has  at  last  established  that  there  is  no  reason  to 
doubt  the  most  brilliant  progress  in  civilization,  nor  the  freest 
development  of  the  human  mind  exempt  from  all  cowardly 
distrust  as  well  as  from  all  self-interested  prejudice;  it  can, 
it  will,  it  must  be  wise  enough  to  honor  and  encourage  litera- 
ture, which  is  civilization  itself;  philosophy,  which  elevates 
and  emancipates  the  soul;  and  the  sciences,  which  set  right 
the  ideas  of  man  and  extend  his  power.  What  future  have 
they  not  the  right  to  hope  under  this  reign  of  reason,  for 
which  every  improvement,  every  truth  is  a  force  and  a 
guarantee.  This  future  will  not  fail  us;  we  shall  see  litera- 
ture, philosophy,  and  science  working  together ;  soon  the  in- 
fluence of  practical  instruction  will  be  felt  in  the  humblest 
dwelling,  and  higher  education  even  more  advanced.  The 
State  will  lend  its  power,  liberty  its  impulsion,  and  in  this 
unity  of  effort  the  public  schools  will  be  ever  the  first  to 
recognize  and  to  serve  the  legitimate  needs  of  society. 

Let  us  not  forget  that  the  greatest  destinies  have  their  trials, 
and  the  happiest  conditions  their  perils.    Freed  from  the  im- 


AT  THE  UNIVERSITY  OP  PAEI8 


403 


pediments  which  have  so  long  weighed  upon  human  intel- 
ligence and  borne  it  down,  too  many  people  have  been  in- 
duced to  believe  that  instruction  should  be,  above  all,  apt 
and  easy,  education  unexacting,  and  that  prolonged  study 
and  severe  regulations  should  henceforth  be  out  of  date. 
The  studies  in  our  schools,  also  the  knowledge  commonly  dis- 
played in  society,  show  quickly  the  error  of  this  presumption. 

But  I  look  about  me,  gentlemen,  and  I  am  reassured.  This 
corps  of  teachers  recognizes  and  avoids  that  danger.  It  is  its 
mission  to  separate  with  care,  and  to  combat  whatever  there 
may  be  false  and  dangerous  in  the  ideas  of  the  moment  and 
the  thoughtless  impulses  of  youth.  Already,  and  on  more 
than  one  occasion,  it  has  shown  its  comprehension  of,  and  ful- 
filled this  necessary  mission.  It  has  protected  by  turns  re- 
ligion, higher  education,  and  popular  instruction  against 
frivolous  indifference  or  powerful  enmity.  Protected  by  the 
morality  and  the  independence  of  their  task,  these  instructors, 
far  from  truckling  to  the  spirit  which  seemed  to  prevail,  have 
ever  labored  to  preserve  the  growing  generations  from  the 
errors  and  misfortunes  into  which  their  unguided  inclinations 
might  lead  them.  It  will  persevere  in  this  difficult  but  salu- 
tary effort. 

And  you  yourselves,  young  students,  despite  the  inexpe- 
rience and  wilfulness  natural  to  your  age,  you  will  compre- 
hend the  regulations  of  which  you  are  the  object;  you  will  ac- 
quiesce in  their  severity;  you  yourselves  vdll  aid  your  mas- 
ters in  giving  you  that  training  which  is  in  accord  with  reason 
and  the  laws  of  divine  Providence.  Do  not  beguile  your- 
selves with  vain  illusions ;  do  not  flatter  yourselves  that  in  the 
labors  which  will  follow  that  of  our  schools  you  will  en- 
counter the  same  support,  or  that  the  same  friendly  interest 
will  surround  you  at  the  moment  of  success! 


404 


GUIZOT 


The  world  awaits  you  with  its  engrossing  interests,  its  in- 
difference, its  heartless  rivalries,  its  hasty  judgments!  Upon 
the  world^s  stage,  life  is  always  laborious,  oftentimes  arduous! 
May  your  education  have  prepared  you  for  its  trials  instead 
of  concealing  them! 

Congratulate  yourselves  upon  finding  in  our  schools  this 
discipline,  these  habits  of  order  and  respect,  these  great  prin- 
ciples that  fortify  the  soul,  that  will  enable  you  to  triumph 
in  the  formidable  struggles  of  real  life  as  you  have  come 
forth  victorious  in  the  pleasurable  contests  of  youth. 

May  your  friends  be  congratulated  also  with  you;  may 
they  second  your  instructors  and  yourselves  in  your  efforts 
to  imprint  upon  national  education  a  stamp  strong  in  morality 
and  wisdom.  It  is  our  duty  to  move  ever  toward  this  end; 
it  mil  one  day  be  your  happiness  that  we  have  devoted  our- 
selves to  its  attainment. 


AT  THE  UNVEILING  OF  THE  STATUE  OF  WILLIAM 
THE  CONQUEROR 

DELIVERED  AT  FALAISE,  OCTOBER  36,  1851 

YOU  afford  to-day,  gentlemen,  a  rare  example,  an  example 
of  memory  faithful,  enduring,  and  reaching  back- 
ward through  the  centuries! 
ISTearly  eight  hundred  years  ago  William  the  Conqueror  died, 
abandoned  and  alone,  in  this  Normandy  which  owes  to  him 
its  greatness.  With  great  difficulty  attendants  were  found 
at  Rouen  to  guard  his  body  and  escort  his  bier;  at  Caen  it 
was  hard  to  obtain  the  few  feet  of  earth  for  his  burial.  You 
atone  to-day  for  this  indifference  on  the  part  of  his  contem- 
poraries; by  your  persevering  efforts  and  by  the  talent  of  an 
eminent  artist  King  William  is  reinstated  in  his  native  city; 


AT  STATUE  OF  WILLIAM  THE  COJS  UUJSEOP 


405 


Falaise  gives  back  to  him,  after  eight  centuries,  the  glory 
which  from  him  she  received. 

It  is  honorable  to  do  justice  to  a  great  man!  He  should 
no  more  be  flattered  after  death  than  during  life;  his  errors, 
his  misdeeds,  his  vices,  and  the  crimes  he  committed  should 
be  brought  to  light  and  severely  judged.  But  this  just  severity 
once  shown,  the  wrong  once  recognized  and  treated  as  it 
deserved,  when  the  man  has  been  really  great,  he  remains 
great,  despite  his  imperfections  thus  disclosed;  and  then  it 
becomes  also  a  duty  to  extol  his  merits,  and  honor  his  memory 
with  pomp  and  ceremony:  for  great  men  make  the  glory  of 
a  people,  even  though  they  may  have  been  harsh  masters  and 
their  glory  dearly  bought. 

William  of  IN'ormandy  was  truly  a  great  man;  and  if  the 
greatness  of  princes  is  estimated,  as  it  should  be,  by  the  dif- 
ficulty of  their  undertakings  and  the  importance  of  the  re- 
sults, there  are  few  that  are  superior  to  liim. 

Call  to  mind,  gentlemen,  an  enterprise  accomplished  in  our 
days,  under  our  very  eyes — the  expedition  to  Algiers  in  1830. 
The  case  in  question  was  the  embarkation  and  transportation 
of  an  army  of  thirty  thousand  men  to  the  farther  shore  of 
the  Mediterranean  to  demand  of  a  barbarian  just  satisfaction. 
"What  immense  preparations!  What  care!  What  effort! 
What  mighty  resources  displayed  by  our  all-powerful  civiliza- 
tion! And  all  this  was  judged  necessary  in  proportion  as  the 
enterprise  was  considered  difiicult!  And  when  the  day  of 
trial  came  nothing  was  found  to  be  superfluous  for  success; 
and  the  success  of  the  enterprise  made  the  fame  of  its  leaders. 

In  the  eleventh  century,  society  hardly  emerged  from  bar- 
barism, without  any  of  the  resources  civilization  and  science 
give  to  us,  Duke  William  gathered  together,  embarked,  trans- 
ported across  the  Channel,  and  landed  upon  an  enemy's  soil 


406 


OUIZOT 


more  than  thirty  thousand  men,  and,  scarcely  landed,  won 
victories  and  conquered  a  kingdom.  So  much  for  the  diffi- 
culty of  the  undertaking!  So  much  for  the  grandeur  of  the 
result ! 

^sTot  only  did  William  cross  the  sea  with  his  army  upon 
frail  barks ;  not  only  did  he  conquer  a  kingdom ;  he  did 
much  more  than  that;  he  founded  a  State.  He  established 
with  strength  and  solidity  on  foreign  soil  his  power  and  his 
race;  he  framed  new  laws;  he  introduced  a  new  language,  and 
his  work,  lasting  through  centuries,  still  endures,  and  it  is 
still  in  the  language  of  King  William  that  England's  noble 
Queen  is  addressed  in  her  Parliament,  and  that  in  which  she 
responds. 

We  have  seen,  gentlemen,  conquests  equally  vast,  equally 
brilliant,  as  those  of  King  William.  Their  duration  has  been 
hardly  longer  than  their  accomplishment.  It  is  a  rare  phe- 
nomenon when  invasions  result  in  the  foundation  of  govern- 
ments. William  achieved  this  work.  He  was  in  complete 
accord  with  the  spirit  and  permanent  interests  of  his  time; 
he  had  the  good  sense  to  preserve,  as  well  as  the  genius  to 
conquer. 

We  have  certainly  the  right,  gentlemen,  to  render  him 
this  justice,  for  his  glory  cost  us  very  dear.  It  had  its  origin 
in  that  national  struggle  which  endured  for  more  than  three 
centuries  between  France  and  England,  each  being  anxious 
to  subjugate  and  possess  the  other.  William,  in  establishing 
but  partial  and  precarious  bonds  between  the  two  nations, 
was  the  cause  of  that  era  of  implacable  hostility  and  of  all 
the  wars  waged  between  them,  until  finally  each  became  inde- 
pendent of  the  other. 

We  have  come  forth  victors  from  this  great  conquest.  We 
have  reconquered,  one  after  the  other,  all  portions  of  our  own 


AT  STATUE  OF  WILLIAM  THE  COIiQUJUiQE 


407 


territory  and  gloriously  assured  our  national  independence. 
That  figure  without  parallel  in  the  history  of  the  world,  hav- 
ing the  nature  of  both  angel  and  hero,  Joan  of  Arc,  made 
of  no  avail  what  the  successors  of  William  wished  to  do  to 
France;  and  in  this  same  land,  in  this  same  city  of  Rouen, 
where  King  William  died,  the  virgin  warrior  sealed  with  her 
martyrdom  the  deliverance  of  her  country. 

I  pass  from  these  memories  of  the  past,  both  sad  and  glori- 
ous !  •  I  no  longer  give  heed  save  to  ourselves  and  the  history 
of  our  own  time.  In  our  days,  also,  numerous  vessels  crowd 
our  shores  and  take  on  board  thousands  of  persons  for  trans- 
portation to  England.  Is  it  a  new  war  which  there  they  go 
to  carry  and  to  find  ?  'Noy  gentlemen,  it  is  peace  which  they 
carry  and  which  draws  them  thither;  they  go  in  search 
neither  of  adventure  nor  of  conquest ;  they  go  to  offer  and  to 
receive  the  pledges  of  reciprocal  prosperity.  The  relations 
of  the  two  nations  are  now  as  peaceful  as  frequent  and  active. 
A  palace  of  crystal  where  they  assemble  together,  a  cord  in- 
visible, a  light  flashing  under  the  waves,  which  transmits  from 
one  to  the  other  the  announcement  of  their  needs  and  of  their 
mutual  service;  there  you  behold  the  bonds  which  to-day  re- 
place those  that  William  the  Conqueror  wished  to  form ! 

Which  of  the  two  epochs,  gentlemen,  i^  the  happier? 
Which  of  the  two  spectacles  the  more  beautiful  ?  Assuredly, 
even  in  the  midst  of  the  trials  and  uncertainties  weighing 
upon  us  in  our  agitated  and  precarious  state,  we  have  reason 
to  be,  in  our  time,  proud  and  full  of  anticipation,  provided 
that  our  hope  and  our  pride  do  not  cause  our  indulgence  in 
the  pretensions  and  chimeras  of  foolish  self-satisfaction. 


408 


GUIZOT 


and  of  which  one  ia  not  obliged  to  say,  in  the  language  of  a 
great  poet  given  by  Normandy  to  France — 

"And  as  it  has  the  brilliancy  of  glass. 
Has  likewise  its  fragility." 

I  do  not  wish,  in  the  midst  of  this  time  of  rejoicing,  to  utter 
words  of  sadness,  but  you  will  pardon  me,  gentlemen,  the 
expression  of  a  sentiment  shared  by  all  sensible  and  all  worthy 
people. 

When  tossed  about  in  mid-ocean  and  by  violent  tempests, 
it  is  of  small  moment  that  the  vessel  be  fine,  well-armed, 
thoroughly  provided  and  manned  with  sailors  intelligent  and 
brave;  it  is  necessary,  it  is  more  necessary  than  aught  else, 
that  the  crew  be  united  and  that  the  ship  have  strong  anchors, 
for  therein  depends  her  safety.  Let  us  bind  ourselves  firmly 
together,  gentlemen,  and  unitedly  lay  hold  of  the  strong 
anchor  of  Society!  God  will  give  us  the  strength  if  we  do 
what  is  requisite  to  deserve  it! 

[Specially  translated  by  Mary  Emerson  Adams.] 


SIR  ROBERT  PEEL 


SIR  ROBERT  PEEL 


IK  Robert  Peel,  an  eminent  English  statesman,  administrator,  financier, 
and  parliamentary  debater,  was  born  near  Bury,  Lancashire,  Feb.  5,  1788, 
and  died  at  London,  July  2,  1850.  After  an  education  at  Harrow  and  at 
Oxford,  he  entered  Parliament  in  1809,  and  two  years  afterward  became 
under-secretary  for  the  Colonies.  In  1812,  he  was  appointed  Secretary  for  Ireland,  a 
post  he  held  for  six  years,  earning  Irish  hatred  by  his  strict  administration  and  bias 
against  Catholics.  His  aptitude  for  finance  made  him  useful  in  the  Commons  on  his 
return  to  England,  and  led  him  to  take  interest  in  fiscal  matters  and  in  questions  con- 
cerning the  currency.  At  this  period,  he  introduced  resolutions  in  the  House  providing 
for  resumption,  in  May,  1822,  of  specie  payments,  after  which  he  withdrew  from  Can- 
ning's Cabinet,  but  as  Home  Secretary  joined  that  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  in  which 
he  showed  his  growing  liberalism  by  introducing  and  triumphantly  carrying  the  Cath- 
olic Emancipation  measure.  This  unlooked-for  change  of  policy  in  Peel  for  the  time 
estranged  from  him  many  of  his  old  friends :  but  his  liberalism,  so  far,  was  not  very 
deep,  for  he  resisted  the  passing  by  Lord  Grey's  "Whig  administration  of  the  Re- 
form Act  of  1832,  which  among  other  benefits  popularized  the  representation  in  Parlia- 
ment. For  some  months  in  1834-35  he  attained  the  premiership,  but  the  task  was  an 
arduous  one  to  govern  with  a  minority,  and  he  presently  resigned  office  and  for  some 
years  led  the  Conservative  opposition.  In  1841,  he  was,  however,  returned  to  power, 
and  for  five  years  remained  at  the  head  of  a  memorable  administration.  It  was  during 
this  period  of  his  career  that  Peel  became  a  convert  to  free  trade  and  practically  aban- 
doned Toryism  and  adopted  the  views  of  the  Whigs.  His  measure  for  the  repeal  of  the 
Corn  laws  in  1846,  however,  led  to  his  defeat  and  brought  upon  him  the  bitter  attacks 
of  Disraeli.  His  life  unhappily  ended  a  few  years  afterward,  as  the  result  of  a 
fall  from  his  horse,  on  which  he  was  riding  in  Hyde  Park,  London  (June  29,  1850), 
and  three  days  later  he  died  of  the  injuries  sustained.  Peel  was  a  perfect  master  of 
the  House  of  Commons,  and  it  was  there  that  his  real  genius  and  character  displayed 
themselves.  His  style  as  a  speaker  was  ''clear,  strong,  and  stately;  full  of  various 
argument  and  apt  illustration  drawn  from  books  and  from  the  world  of  politics  and 
commerce." 

ON  THE  REPEAL  OF  THE  CORN  LAWS 
DELIVERED  IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS.  MAY  15.  1846 

SIR, — I  believe  it  is  now  nearly  three  months  since  I  first 
proposed,  as  the  organ  of  her  Majesty's  government, 
the  measure  which  I  trust  is  about  to  receive  to-night 
the  sanction  of  the  House  of  Commons;  and,  considering  the 
lapse  of  time — considering  the  frequent  discussions — con- 
(4886)  (409) 


410 


SIR  ROBERT  PEEL 


sidering  the  anxiety  of  the  people  of  this  country  that  these 
debates  should  be  brought  to  a  close,  I  feel  that  I  should  be 
offering  an  insult  to  the  House — I  should  be  offering  an  in- 
sult to  the  country,  if  I  were  to  condescend  to  bandy  per- 
sonalities upon  such  an  occasion. 

Sir,  I  foresaw  that  the  course  which  I  have  taken  from  a 
sense  of  public  duty  would  expose  me  to  serious  sacrifices. 
I  foresaw,  as  its  inevitable  result,  that  I  must  forfeit  friend- 
ships which  I  most  highly  valued — that  I  must  interrupt 
political  relations  in  which  I  felt  a  sincere  pride;  but  the 
smallest  of  all  the  penalties  which  I  anticipated  were  the  con- 
tinued venomous  attacks  of  the  member  for  Shrewsbury 
[Mr.  Disraeli].  Sir,  I  will  only  say  of  that  honorable  gentle- 
man, that  if  he,  after  reviewing  the  whole  of  my  public  life — 
a  life  extending  over  thirty  years  previously  to  my  accession 
to  office  in  1841 — if  he  then  entertained  the  opinion  of  me 
which  he  now  professes;  if  he  thought  I  was  guilty  of  these 
petty  larcenies  from  Mr.  Horner  and  others,  it  is  a  little  sur- 
prising that  in  the  spring  of  1841,  after  his  long  experience 
of  my  public  career,  he  should  have  been  prepared  to  give 
me  his  confidence. 

It  is  still  more  surprising  that  he  should  have  been  ready — 
as  I  think  he  was — to  unite  his  fortunes  with  mine  in  office, 
thus  implying  the  strongest  proof  which  any  public  man  can 
give  of  confidence  in  the  honor  and  integrity  of  a  minister 
of  the  Crown. 

Sir,  I  have  explained  more  than  once  what  were  the  cir- 
stances  under  which  I  felt  it  my  duty  to  take  this  course.  I 
did  feel  in  IsTovember  last  that  there  was  just  cause  for  ap- 
prehension of  scarcity  and  famine  in  Ireland.  I  am  stating 
what  were  the  apprehensions  I  felt  at  that  time,  what  were 
the  motives  from  which  I  acted;  and  those  apprehensions, 


ON  THE  REPEAL  OF  THE  CORN  LAWS 


411 


though  they  may  be  denied  now,  were  at  least  shared  then  by 
those  honorable  gentlemen  who  sit  below  the  gangway 
[the  protectionists].  The  honorable  member  for  Somerset- 
shire [Sir  T.  A.  Acland]  expressly  declared  that  at  the  period 
to  which  I  referred  he  was  prepared  to  acquiesce  in  the  suspen- 
sion of  the  corn  laws.  An  honorable  member  also,  a  recent 
addition  to  this  House,  who  spoke  with  great  ability  the  other 
night,  the  honorable  member  for  Dorsetshire  [Mr.  Seymer], 
distinctly  declared  that  he  thought  I  should  have  abandoned 
my  duty  if  I  had  not  advised  that,  considering  the  circum- 
stances of  Ireland,  the  restrictions  on  the  importation  of 
foreign  corn  should  be  temporarily  removed. 

I  may  have  been  wrong,  but  my  impression  was,  first,  that 
my  duty  toward  a  country  threatened  with  famine  required 
that  that  w^hich  had  been  the  ordinary  remedy  under  all  simi- 
lar circumstances  should  be  resorted  to — namely,  that  there 
should  be  free  access  to  the  food  of  man  from  whatever 
quarter  it  might  come.  I  was  prepared  to  give  the  best  proof 
which  public  men  generally  can  give  of  the  sincerity  of  their 
opinions,  by  tendering  my  resignation  of  office  and  devolving 
upon  others  the  duty  of  proposing  this  measure;  and,  sir,  I 
felt  this — that  if  these  laws  were  once  suspended,  and  there 
was  unlimited  access  to  food  the  produce  of  other  countries, 
I,  and  those  with  whom  I  acted,  felt  the  strongest  conviction 
that  it  was  not  for  the  public  interest,  that  it  was  not  for  the 
interest  of  the  agricultural  party,  that  an  attempt  should  be 
made  permanently  to  reimpose  restrictions  on  the  importation 
of  food. 

I  could  not  propose  the  re-establishment  of  the  existing 
law  with  any  guarantee  for  its  permanence.  As  the  noble 
lord  says,  I  had  acted  with  Mr.  Huskisson  in  1822,  1825,  and 
1S26,  in  revising  the  commercial  system  and  applying  to  that 


412 


SIR  ROBERT  PEEL 


system  tlie  principles  of  free  trade.  In  1842,  after  my  ac- 
cession to  office,  I  proposed  a  revision  of  the  corn  laws.  Had 
anything  taken  place  at  the  election  of  1844  which  precluded 
that  revision?  Was  there  a  public  assurance  given  to  the 
people  of  this  country,  at  the  election  of  1841,  that  the  exist- 
ing amount  of  protection  to  agriculture  should  be  retained? 
["  Yes,  yes !  "]  There  was,  was  there  ?  Then,  if  there  was, 
you  were  as  guilty  as  I.  What  was  the  assurance  given?  If 
it  was  that  the  amount  of  protection  to  agriculture  which  ex- 
isted in  1843  ^and  1841  should  be  retained,  opposition  ought 
to  have  been  made  by  you  to  the  revision  of  that  system  in 
1842. 

Why  was  the  removal  of  the  prohibition  on  the  importa- 
tion of  foreign  meat  and  foreign  cattle  assented  to?  That 
removal  must  have  been  utterly  at  variance  with  any  assur- 
ance that  the  protection  to  agriculture  which  existed  in  1840 
and  1841  should  be  retained.  Yet  that  removal  was  voted 
by  the  House  by  large  majorities;  and  after  the  bill  of  1842 
was  I  not  repeatedly  asked  this  question,  "  !N"ow  that  you  have 
passed  this  bill  establishing  a  new  corn  law,  will  you  give  a 
public  assurance  that  to  that  you  will  at  all  times  adhere?  " 

Did  I  not  uniformly  decline  to  give  any  such  assurance? 
I  said  I  had  no  intention  of  proposing  an  alteration  of  that 
law  at  the  time  when  the  question  was  put  to  me;  but  I  dis- 
tinctly declared  that  I  would  not  fetter  forever  my  discretion 
by  giving  such  a  pledge.  These  things  are  on  record.  It 
was  quite  impossible  for  me,  consistently  with  my  own  con- 
victions, after  a  suspension  of  import  duties,  to  propose  the 
re-establialiment  of  the  existing  law  with  any  security  for  its 
continuance.  Well,  then,  the  question  which  naturally  arose 
was  this — Shall  we  propose  some  diminished  protection  to 
agriculture,  or,  in  the  state  of  public  feeling  which  will  exist 


ON  THE  REPEAL  OF  THE  CORN  LAWS 


413 


after  the  suspension  of  restriction,  shall  we  propose  a  per- 
manent and  ultimate  settlement  of  the  question?  To  be  of 
any  avail,  it  must  have  been  diminished  greatly  below  its 
present  standard,  and  that  diminution,  I  believe,  would  have 
met  with  as  much  opposition  from  the  agricultural  body  as 
the  attempt  finally  to  settle  the  question. 

And  now,  after  all  these  debates,  I  am  firmly  convinced 
that  it  is  better  for  the  agricultural  interest  to  contemplate 
the  final  settlement  of  this  question,  rather  than  to  attempt 
the  introduction  of  a  law  giving  a  diminished  protection.  My 
belief  is  that  a  diminished  protection  would  in  no  respect 
conciliate  agricultural  feeling;  and  this  I  must  say,  nothing 
could  be  so  disadvantageous  as  to  give  an  ineffectual  protec- 
tion and  yet  incur  all  the  odium  of  giving  an  adequate  one. 
What  have  we  been  told  during  this  discussion? 

With  scarcely  an  exception  I  have  listened  attentively  to 
every  speech  that  has  been  made  on  this  side  of  the  House; 
and,  admitting  the  talent  that  has  been  displayed,  I  confess 
they  have  in  no  respect  altered  the  conviction  upon  which  I 
have  acted.  You  tell  me  it  would  have  been  possible,  with 
such  support  as  I  should  have  received,  to  have  continued  the 
existing  law;  I  believe  it  might  have  been.  As  far  as 
the  gratification  of  any  pei*sonal  object  of  ambition  is  con- 
cerned  

[Interruption.] 

I  am  perfectly  ready  to  listen  to  ai.y  reply  that  may  be 
made  to  my  observations,  and  I  think  it  is  hardly  fair  to  at- 
tempt to  interrupt  me  by  such  exclamations,  but  it  has  so  far 
succeeded. 

I  am  told  that  it  would  have  been  possible  to  continue  this 
protection;  but  after  the  suspension  of  it — for  I  now  as- 
sume that  the  suspension  would  have  been  assented  to  on  ac- 


414 


SIE  ROBERT  PEEL 


count  of  the  necessities  of  Ireland — the  difficulty  of  main- 
taining it  would  have  been  greatly  increased;  because  it  would 
have  been  shown,  after  the  lapse  of  three  years,  that,  al- 
though it  had  worked  tolerably  well  during  the  continuance 
of  abundance,  or  at  least  of  average  harvests,  yet  at  the 
moment  it  was  exposed  to  the  severe  trial  of  scarcity  it  then 
iieased  to  effect  the  object  for  which  it  was  enacted,  and  that, 
in  addition  to  the  state  of  public  feeling  with  reference  to 
restrictions  on  imports  generally,  would  have  greatly  added 
to  the  difficulty  of  maintaining  the  law.  There  would  have 
been  public  proof  of  its  inefficiency  for  one  of  the  great  ob- 
jects for  which  it  was  enacted. 

But  let  me  say,  although  it  has  not  been  brought  prom- 
inently under  consideration,  that,  without  any  reference  to 
the  case  of  Ireland,  the  working  of  the  law,  as  far  as  Great 
Britain  is  concerned,  during  the  present  year  has  not  been 
satisfactory.  You  would  have  had  to  contend  not  merely  with 
difficulties  arising  from  suspension  on  account  of  the  case  of 
Ireland,  but  it  would  have  been  shown  to  you  that  the  rate 
of  duty  has  been  high  on  account  of  the  apparent  lowness  in 
the  price  of  com;  while  that  lovmess  of  price  has  arisen  not 
from  abundance  in  quantity,  but  from  deficient  quality.  It 
would  have  been  shown,  and  conclusively,  that  there  are 
greater  disparities  of  price  in  most  of  the  principal  markets 
of  this  country — between  corn  of  the  highest  quality  and  of 
the  lowest — than  have  ever  existed  in  former  periods.  It 
would  have  been  proved  that  there  never  was  a  greater  de- 
mand than  there  has  been  during  the  present  year  for  wheat 
of  fine  quality  for  the  purpose  of  mixing  with  wheat  of  in- 
ferior quality,  which  forms  the  chief  article  brought  for  sale 
into  our  domestic  markets.  It  would  have  been  shown  you 
that  had  there  been  free  access  to  wheat  of  higher  quality 


ON  THE  KEPEAL  OF  THE  CORN  LAWS 


415 


than  they  have  assumed,  the  whole  population  of  this  country 
would  for  the  last  four  months  have  been  consimiing  bread 
of  a  better  quality. 

My  belief,  therefore,  is  that  in  seeking  the  re-enactment 
of  the  existing  law  after  its  suspension  you  would  have  had  to 
contend  with  greater  difficulties  than  you  anticipate.  Still 
I  am  told,  You  would  have  had  a  majority."  I  think  a 
majority  might  have  been  obtained.  I  think  you  could  have 
continued  this  law,  notwithstanding  these  increased  difficul- 
ties, for  a  short  time  longer;  but  I  believe  that  the  interval  of 
its  maintenance  would  have  been  but  short,  and  that  there 
would  have  been,  during  the  period  of  its  continuance,  a  des- 
perate conflict  between  different  classes  of  society;  that  your 
arguments  in  favor  of  it  would  have  been  weak;  that  you 
might  have  had  no  alternative  at  an  early  period,  had  the 
cycle  of  unfavorable  harvests  returned — and  who  can  give  an 
assurance  that  they  would  not? — that  you  might  at  an  early 
period  have  had  no  alternative  but  to  concede  an  alteration 
of  this  law  under  circumstances  infinitely  less  favorable  than 
the  present  to  a  final  settlement  of  the  question. 

The  honorable  gentleman  the  member  for  Dorsetshire 
said:  We  can  fight  the  league  with  their  own  weapons;" 
that  is  to  say,  finding  that  we  cannot  control  by  law  those 
measures  resorted  to  by  the  Anti-Corn-Law  League,  which  I 
cannot  defend,  and  which  I  very  sincerely  regret  were  ever 
resorted  to — the  establishment  of  voters  in  counties,  not  being 
naturally  voters  in  those  counties — the  honorable  gentleman 
said: 

"We  can  make  faggot  votes  as  well  as  they;"  and  the 
landed  interest,  he  said,  by  the  greater  facilities  which  they 
possess,  would  be  able  to  beat  the  league.  Well,  but  what 
a  sad  alternative  is  this!    What  a  sad  conflict  to  be  carrying 


416 


SIR  ROBERT  PEEL 


on!  Even  admitting  that  it  would  be  necessary,  and  might 
be  done  from  honest  convictions  of  that  necessity,  could  you 
do  it  without  destroying  the  county  constituencies?  Surely 
it  is  wise  to  consider  the  alternative;  and,  believe  me,  you 
who  are  anxious  for  the  maintenance  of  the  aristocratic  sys- 
tem, you  who  desire  wisely,  and  justly  desire,  to  discourage 
the  infusion  of  too  much  of  the  democratic  principle  into  the 
constitution  of  the  country,  although  you  might  for  a  time 
have  relied  on  the  faggot  votes  you  created  in  a  moment  of 
excitement,  yet  the  interval  would  not  be  long  before  that 
weapon  would  break  short  in  your  hands!  You  would  find 
that  those  additional  votes  created  for  the  purpose  of  com- 
bating the  votes  of  the  league,  though  when  brought  up  at 
the  first  election,  under  the  influence  of  an  excitement  con- 
nected with  the  com  laws,  they  might  have  been  true  to  your 
side,  yet,  after  the  lapse  of  a  short  time,  some  exciting  ques- 
tion connected  with  democratic  feelings  would  arise,  and  then 
your  votes  and  the  votes  of  the  league,  not  being  subjected 
to  legitimate  influence,  would  unite,  and  you  would  find  you 
had  entailed  on  the  country  permanent  evils,  destroying  the 
constitution  for  the  purpose  of  providing  a  temporary  rem- 
edy. ' 

It  was  the  foresight  of  these  consequences — it  was  the  belief 
that  you  were  about  to  enter  into  a  bitter  and,  ultimately, 
an  unsuccessful  struggle,  that  has  induced  me  to  think  that 
for  the  benefit  of  all  classes,  for  the  benefit  of  the  agricultural 
class  itself,  it  was  desirable  to  come  to  a  permanent  and  equit- 
able settlement  of  this  question. 

These  are  the  motives  on  which  I  acted.  I  know  the  pen- 
alty to  which  I  must  be  subject  for  having  so  acted;  but 
I  declare,  even  after  the  continuance  of  these  debates,  that  I 
am  only  the  more  impressed  with  the  conviction  that  the  policy 
we  advise  is  correct.    ,  . 


ON  THE  REPEAL  OF  THE  CORN  LAWS 


417 


I  will  next  come  to  a  more  important  point — the  state  of 
crime.  You  have  now  an  official  record,  presented  within  a 
few  days,  of  what  has  been  the  state  of  crime  in  this  country 
during  the  last  thirty  years.  Now,  what  was  the  state  of  crime 
during  the  first  period  of  twenty-seven  years?  From  the  first 
record  in  1815  down  to  1842,  when  the  commitments  attained 
the  maximum  number  hitherto  recorded,  the  increase  in  crime 
progressed  from  year  to  year  until  it  had  extended  to  above 
600  per  cent. 

In  1843  a  change  commenced.  In  that  year  the  number  of 
commitments  decreased.  Within  the  last  six  years,  three 
years  of  great  increase  of  crime  have  been  followed  by  three 
years  during  which  the  decrease  was  so  considerable  that  the 
number  of  commitments  in  1845  has  been  reduced  to  what  it 
was  seven  years  ago.  In  the  three  years  of  high  prices  this 
was  the  state  of  crime  in  each  year :  The  number  of  commit- 
ments in  the  first  year  was  27,187 ;  in  the  second,  27,760;  and 
in  the  third,  31,309.  During  the  last  three  years  the  number 
of  commitments  has  been — in  the  first  year,  29,591;  in  the 
second,  26,542;  and  in  the  third,  24,303. 

Well,  then,  I  take  this  other  test  of  criminality  and  the 
extension  of  morality;  and  I  ask  whether  we  can  resist  the 
legitimate  inference  tliat  the  comparative  cheapness  and 
plenty  which  have  existed  during  the  last  three  years  have 
had  their  effect  in  producing  this  diminished  criminality? 

The  gentleman  who  drew  up  this  return  says:  "  The 
decrease  of  commitments  in  England  "  for  the  last  three 
years  "  has  therefore  been  general,  continued,  and  extensive, 
to  a  degree  of  which  there  is  no  recorded  example  in  this 
kingdom."  He  says  again:  "  In  the  sixth  class,  containing 
those  offences  which  do  not  fall  within  the  definitions  of  the 
foregoing  classes " — violence  to  the  person    and  offences 

Vol.  5—27 


418  SIR  ROBERT  PEEL 

against  property — "  there  is  a  total  absence  of  commitments 
for  seditious  riots  or  sedition." 

A  total  absence  of  commitments  for  tbese  offences!  Why, 
can  you  have  a  stronger  proof  of  the  improvement  of  a  coun- 
try, apart  from  the  command  of  comforts,  than  the  fact  that 
there  should  have  been  this  progressive  diminution  in  com- 
mitments and  a  total  absence  of  any  commitments  for  sedi- 
tion or  seditious  riots?  I  say,  therefore,  comparing  the  result 
of  the  three  years  when  we  have  had  diminished  protection  to 
agriculture  and  a  reduced  price  of  provisions  with  the  twenty- 
seven  preceding  years,  the  inference  is  just  that  the  diminu- 
tion of  crime  is  attributable  to  an  increased  command  over 
those  articles  which  constitute  the  food  of  the  people. 

But  you  say,  "  As  this  happy  state  of  things  has  arisen  dur- 
ing the  existence  of  the  present  com  laws — as  the  present  com 
laws  have  been  coexistent  with  cheapness  and  plenty,  on  what 
principle  do  you  seek  to  disturb  this  happy  arrangement?  You 
have  proved  that,  coexistent  with  the  com  laws,  there  have 
been  cheapness  and  happiness;  why,  then,  do  you  now  come 
forward  to  propose  their  alteration?  " 

Why,  if  you  can  show  me  that  those  laws  were  the  cause  of 
this  happiness  and  plenty,  that  would  no  doubt  be  a  strong 
and  powerful  reason  for  their  continuance.  But  it  cannot  be 
denied  that,  simultaneously  with  a  reduced  protection  to  agri- 
culture, there  has  been  not  only  no  diminution  in  agricultural 
improvement,  but  increased  exertions,  an  increased  demand 
for  agricultural  products,  and  increased  comfort  for  the  people. 

As  you  have  proceeded  downwards  from  1815  to  1842, 
there  has  been  a  corresponding  benefit  from  the  abatement  of 
protection.  If  we  could  anticipate  that  the  law  of  1842  would 
continue  to  produce  all  the  advantages  to  which  I  have 
referred,  that  might  be  a  conclusive  reason  for  adhering  to  it. 


ON  THE  REPEAL  OF  THE  CORN  LAWS 


419 


But  you  assert  that  favorable  harvests  have  occasioned  these 
advantages.  Why,  what  guarantee  have  you  for  the  con- 
tinuance of  favorable  harvests?  You  have  had  comparatively 
favorable  harvests  for  the  last  three  years;  and  you  say  then, 
as  a  matter  of  necessity,  that  we  ought  to  continue  this  law. 
Continue  the  law,  say  I  too,  if  you  can  prove  that  this  particu- 
lar law  has  been  the  cause  of  these  benefits.  If,  however,  you 
say  that  favorable  harvests  have  been  the  cause,  I  say,  then, 
that  that  does  not  constitute  any  reason  for  continuing  the 
law. 

Those  who  have  observed  attentively  the  vicissitudes  of  the 
seasons  have  remarked  that  there  are  cycles  of  favorable  and 
unfavorable  years.  There  was  an  unfavorable  cycle  of  years 
in  1839,  1840,  and  1841,  during  which  time  there  was  great 
distress.  There  has  been  since  a  favorable  cycle  of  years, 
during  which  there  has  been  comparative  abundance.  But 
supposing  that  this  cycle  of  years  in  which  we  have  had  unfa- 
vorable harvests  should  again  return,  have  we,  I  ask,  any 
security  that  the  law  of  1842  will  enable  us  to  obtain  an  ample 
supply  of  food? 

Suppose,  also,  that,  coexistent  with  those  unfavorable  har- 
vests, we  had  also  a  depressed  state  of  manufactures^ — shall 
we  then  be  in  a  favorable  position  for  making  any  alteration 
in  the  law?  Remember  how  short  a  time  has  elapsed  since 
we  had  the  state  of  Paisley,  of  Sheffield,  and  of  Stockport, 
brought  under  our  special  notice.  'Now,  if  these  times  should 
again  return,  after  this  interval  of  comparative  happiness, 
when  the  contrast  of  our  misery  will  be  considerably  height- 
ened by  the  preceding  period  of  happiness  which  has  pre- 
vailed, do  you  believe  it  would  be  possible  to  maintain  in 
existence  a  law  which  leaves  a  duty  of  16s.  a  quarter  upon 
•wheat  when  it  had  arrived  at  the  price  of  56s.? 


420 


SIR  ROBERT  PEEL 


You  may  say,  "  Disregard  the  progress  of  public  opinion ; 
defy  the  League;  enter  into  a  combination  against  it;  de- 
termine to  fight  the  battle  of  protection,  and  you  will  suc- 
ceed." 

My  firm  belief  is — without  yielding  to  the  dictation  of  the 
League,  or  any  other  body — Oh,  oh!  — yes,  subjecting 
myself  to  that  imputation,  I  will  not  hesitate  to  say  my  firm 
belief  is  that  it  is  most  consistent  with  prudence  and  good 
policy,  most  consistent  with  the  real  interests  of  the  landed 
proprietors  themselves,  most  consistent  with  the  maintenance 
of  a  territorial  aristocracy,  seeing  by  how  precarious  a  tenure, 
namely,  the  vicissitudes  of  seasons,  you  hold  your  present  pro- 
tective system — I  say,  it  is  my  firm  belief  that  it  is  for  the 
advantage  of  all  classes,  in  these  times  of  comparative  comfort 
and  comparative  calm,  to  anticipate  the  angry  discussions 
which  might  arise,  by  proposing  at  once  a  final  adjustment  of 
this  question. 

I  have  stated  the  reasons  which  have  induced  me  to  take  the 
present  course.  You  may  no  doubt  say  that  I  am  only  going 
on  the  experience  of  three  years  and  am  acting  contrary  to  the 
principles  of  my  whole  life.  Well,  I  admit  that  charge — I 
admit  that  I  have  defended  the  existence  of  the  com  laws — 
yes,  and  that  up  to  the  present  period  I  have  refused  to 
acquiesce  in  the  proposition  to  destroy  them.  I  candidly 
admit  all  this;  but  when  I  am  told  that  I  am  acting  inconsist- 
ently with  the  principles  of  my  whole  life  by  advocating  free 
trade,  I  give  this  statement  a  peremptory  denial.  During  the 
last  three  years  I  have  subjected  myself  to  many  taunts  on 
this  question,  and  you  have  often  said  to  me  that  Earl  Grey  ' 
had  found  out  something  indicating  a  change  in  my  opinions. 

Did  I  not  say  I  thought  that  we  ought  not  hastily  to  dis- 
turb vested  interests  by  any  rash  legislation?    Did  I  not 


ON  THE  REPEAL  OF  THE  CORN  LAWS 


421 


declare  that  the  principle  of  political  economy  Buggested  the 
purchasing  in  the  cheapest  market,  and  the  selling  in  the  dear- 
est market?  Did  I  not  say  that  I  thought  there  was  nothing 
so  special  in  the  produce  of  agriculture  that  should  exempt  it 
from  the  application  of  this  principle  whch  we  have  applied 
already  to  other  articles?  You  have  a  right,  I  admit,  to  taunt 
me  with  any  change  of  opinion  upon  the  com  laws;  but  when 
you  say  that  by  my  adoption  of  the  principle  of  free  trade  I 
have  acted  in  contradiction  to  those  principles  which  I  have 
always  avowed  during  my  whole  life,  that  charge,  at  least,  I 
say,  is  destitute  of  foundation. 

Sir,  I  will  not  enter  at  this  late  hour  into  the  discussion  of 
any  other  topic.  I  foresaw  the  consequences  that  have 
resulted  from  the  measures  which  I  thought  it  my  duty  to  pro- 
pose. We  were  charged  with  the  heavy  responsibility  of  tak- 
ing security  against  a  great  calamity  in  Ireland.  We  did  not 
act  lightly.  We  did  not  form  our  opinion  upon  merely  local 
information — the  information  of  local  authorities  likely  to  be 
influenced  by  an  undue  alarm.  Before  I  and  those  who 
agreed  with  me  came  to  that  conclusion,  we  had  adopted  every 
means — by  local  inquiry  and  by  sending  perfectly  disinter- 
ested persons  of  authority  to  Ireland — to  form  a  just  and  coi^ 
rect  opinion.  Whether  we  were  mistaken  or  not — I  believe 
we  were  not  mistaken,  but  even  if  we  were  mistaken — a  gener- 
ous construction  should  be  put  upon  the  motives  and  conduct 
of  those  who  are  charged  with  the  responsibility  of  protecting 
millions  of  the  subjects  of  the  Queen  from  the  consequences  of 
scarcity  and  famine. 

Sir,  whatever  may  be  the  result  of  these  discussions,  I  feel 
severely  the  loss  of  the  confidence  of  those  from  whom  I  here- 
tofore received  a  most  generous  support.  So  far  from  expect- 
ing them,  as  some  have  said,  to  adopt  my  opinions,  I  perfectly 


422 


SIR  EGBERT  PEEL 


recognize  the  sincerity  with  which  they  adhere  to  their  own. 
I  recognize  their  perfect  right,  on  account  of  the  admitted 
failure  of  my  speculation,  to  withdraw  from  me  their 
confidence. 

I  honor  their  motives,  but  I  claim,  and  I  always  will  claim, 
while  entrusted  with  such  powers  and  subject  to  such  responsi- 
bility as  the  minister  of  this  great  country  is  entrusted  with 
and  is  subject  to — I  always  will  assert  the  right  to  give  that 
advice  which  I  conscientiously  believe  to  be  conducive  to  the 
general  well-being.  I  was  not  considering,  according  to  the 
language  of  the  honorable  member  for  Shrewsbury,  what  was 
the  best  bargain  to  make  for  a  party.  I  was  considering  first 
what  were  the  best  measures  to  avert  a  great  calamity,  and,  as 
a  secondary  consideration,  to  relieve  that  interest  which  I  was 
bound  to  protect  from  the  odium  of  refusing  to  acquiesce  in 
measures  which  I  thought  to  be  necessary  for  the  purpose  of 
averting  that  calamity.  Sir,  I  cannot  charge  myself  or  my 
colleagues  with  having  been  unfaithful  to  the  trust  committed 
to  us.  I  do  not  believe  that  the  great  institutions  of  this 
country  have  suffered  during  our  administration  of  power. 
The  noble  lord  [Lord  John  Russell]  says  he  hopes  that  the  disr 
cussions  which  have  threatened  the  maintenance  of  amicable 
relations  with  the  United  States  will  be  brought  to  a  fortunate 
close. 

Sir,  I  think  I  can  appeal  to  the  course  which  we  have  pur- 
sued against  some  obloquy,  some  misconstruction,  some  insinu- 
ations that  we  were  abandoning  the  honor  of  this  country — I 
think  I  can  appeal  to  the  past  experience  of  this  government 
that  it  has  been  our  earnest  desire,  by  every  effort  consistent 
with  the  national  honor,  to  maintain  friendly  relations  with 
every  country  on  the  face  of  the  globe. 

This  principle,  so  long  as  we  are  entrusted  with  the  man- 


ON  THE  REPEAL  OF  THE  CORN  LAWS 


428 


agement  of  public  affairs,  will  continue  to  influence  U3  in 
respect  to  the  settlement  of  our  unfortunate  differences  with 
the  United  States. 

Sir,  if  I  look  to  the  prerogative  of  the  Ctown — if  I  look  to 
the  position  of  the  Church — if  I  look  to  the  influence  of  the 
aristocracy — I  cannot  charge  myself  with  having  taken  any 
course  inconsistent  with  conservative  principles,  calculated  to 
endanger  the  privileges  of  any  branch  of  the  legislature  or  of 
any  institutions  of  the  country.  My  earnest  wish  has  been, 
during  my  tenure  of  power,  to  impress  the  people  of  this  coun- 
try with  a  belief  that  the  legislature  was  animated  by  a  sincere 
desire  to  frame  its  legislation  upon  the  principles  of  equity 
and  justice. 

I  have  a  strong  belief  that  the  greatest  object  which  we  or 
any  other  government  can  contemplate  should  be  to  elevate 
the  social  condition  of  that  class  of  the  people  with  whom  we 
are  brought  into  no  direct  relationship  by  the  exercise  of  the 
elective  franchise.  I  wish  to  convince  them  that  our  object 
has  been  to  apportion  taxation,  that  we  shall  relieve  industry 
and  labor  from  any  undue  burden,  and  transfer  it,  so  far  as  is 
consistent  with  the  public  good,  to  those  who  are  better 
enabled  to  bear  it. 

I  look  to  the  present  peace  of  this  country;  I  look  to  the 
absence  of  all  disturbance — to  the  non-existence  of  any  com- 
mitment for  a  seditious  offence;  I  look  to  the  calm  that  pre- 
vails in  the  public  mind ;  I  look  to  the  absence  of  all  disaffec- 
tion ;  I  look  to  the  increased  and  growing  public  confidence  on 
account  of  the  course  you  have  taken  in  relieving  trade  from 
restrictions,  and  industry  from  unjust  burdens;  and  where 
there  was  dissatisfaction  I  see  contentment;  where  there  was 
turbulence  I  see  there  is  peace;  where  there  was  disloyalty  I 
see  there  is  loyalty;  I  see  a  disposition  to  confide  in  you,  and 


424 


SIR   ROBERT  PEEL 


not  to  agitate  questions  that  are  at  the  foundations  of  your 
institutions. 

Deprive  me  of  power  to-morrow,  you  can  never  deprive  me 
of  the  consciousness  that  I  have  exercised  the  powers  com- 
mitted to  me  from  no  corrupt  or  interested  motives^ — ^from  no 
desire  to  gratify  ambition  or  attain  any  personal  object;  that 
I  have  labored  to  maintain  peace  abroad  consistently  with  the 
national  honor  and  defending  every  public  right — to  increase 
the  confidence  of  the  great  body  of  the  people  in  the  justice 
of  your  decisions,  and  by  the  means  of  equal  law  to  dispense 
with  all  coercive  powers — to  maintain  loyalty  to  the  Throne 
and  attachment  to  the  constitution,  from  a  conviction  of  the 
benefit  that  will  accrue  to  the  great  body  of  the  people. 


LAMARTINK 


LAMARTINE 


LPHONSE  Marie  Louis  Lamartine,  distinguished  French  poet,  historian, 
and  statesman,  was  born  at  Macon,  on  the  Saone,  France,  Oct.  21,  1790, 
and  died  at  Paris,  March  1,  1869.  He  was  educated  at  Milly  and  at 
the  College  de  Lyon,  and  besides  being  a  great  student  of  books,  read- 
ing omniverously,  he  travelled  considerably,  especially  in  Italy,  Savoy,  and  Switzer- 
land, falling  for  a  time  in  love,  as  he  idyllically  tells  us  in  his  "Confidences."  In 
1820,  appeared  his  "Meditations  Poetiques,"  a  work  which  at  once  made  his  repu- 
tation as  an  author,  and  became  extremely  popular  among  the  higher  devout  and 
cultured  classes  for  its  stimulus  to  religious  aspiration  and  the  author's  dreamy 
enthusiasm  for  nature .  This  was  followed  by  his  entrance  into  the  diplomatic  service 
of  France,  and  gained  him  membership  in  the  French  Academy.  In  1834,  he  became 
a  member  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  where  he  gained  the  reputation  of  an  orator, 
leading  the  progressive  conservative  party  and  making  telling  speeches  on  the  Eastern 
Question,  then  the  absorbing  topic  of  the  hour.  Just  prior  to  the  revolution  of 
1848,  Guizot  published  his  notable  "History  of  the  Girondists,"  in  which  the  revo- 
lutionary epoch  of  France  and  the  era  of  the  Reign  of  Terror  are  depicted  not  only 
with  truth,  but  in  an  attractive  literary  style.  He  now  became  a  member  of  the 
provisional  government  of  1848  and  foreign  minister  of  the  Republic.  After  the 
coup  d'etat  of  1851,  Lamartine  retired  from  politics  and  spent  the  remainder  of  his 
life  toiling  with  his  pen.  Besides  the  works  of  his  we  have  mentioned,  he  wrote  a 
"History  of  the  Restoration"  and  his  delightful  "Voyage  in  the  Orient,"  full  of 
magnificent  descriptive  passages. 

REPLY  TO  THE  POLISH  DEPUTATION 

[Delivered  in  response  to  the  demand  for  the  assistance  of  the  government  in 
re-establishing  Polish  nationality.] 

FEA^^CE  not  only  owes  you  good  wishes  and  tears,  but 
she  owes  you  a  moral  and  eventual  assistance  in  re- 
turn for  the  Polish  blood  w^ith  which  you  have  be- 
dewed every  battle-field  in  Europe  during  our  great  w^ars. 

France  will  pay  her  debt,  rely  on  it;  trust  to  the  hearts 
of  thirty-six  millions  of  Frenchmen.  Only  leave  to  France 
that  which  exclusively  pertains  to  her — the  season,  the  mo- 
ment, and  the  form,  of  which  Providence  shall  determine  the 

(425) 


426 


LAMARTINK 


choice  and  suitability,  to  restore  you,  without  aggression  or 
bloodshed,  that  place  which  is  your  due  in  the  face  of  day 
and  in  the  catalogue  of  nations. 

You  are  acquainted  with  the  principles  which  the  Provi- 
sional Government  of  the  republic  has  universally  adopted 
in  its  foreign  policy.  In  case  you  do  not  know  them  I  will 
recapitulate  them. 

The  republic  is  undoubtedly  republican  and  she  openly  pro- 
claims it  to  the  world;  but  the  republic  is  not  at  open  or 
secret  war  with  any  nation  or  existing  government  so  long 
as  these  nations  and  governments  do  not  declare  themselves 
at  war  with  her. 

She  will  not,  therefore,  commit  or  voluntarily  suffer  to  be 
committed  any  act  of  violence  or  aggression  against  the  Ger- 
manic nations.  They,  at  this  moment,  are  occupied  in  modi- 
fying their  internal  system  of  confederation  and  in  assuring 
the  security  and  right  of  those  peoples  who  can  claim  a  place 
amongst  them.  We  should  be  either  mad  or  traitors  to  the 
liberty  of  the  world  were  we  to  interrupt  this  labor  by  warlike 
demonstrations  and  change  into  hostility,  apprehension,  or 
hatred  the  tendency  to  freedom  that  now  makes  them  lean 
toward  us  and  toward  yourselves. 

What  a  moment  do  you  bid  us  choose  for  this  measure,  so 
utterly  opposed  to  right  policy  and  liberty !  Is  the  treaty  of 
Pilnitz  being  revived  against  us?  Does  the  coalition  of  the 
despot  monarchs  now  threaten  our  frontiers  and  yours  ?  No. 
You  see  each  courier  brings  us  tidings  of  the  victorious  accla- 
mation with  which  people  adopt  our  principles,  and 
strengthen  our  cause,  precisely  because  we  have  declared  that 
these  principles  were  those  of  respect  for  the  rights,  the 
wishes,  the  forms,  the  government  and  territories,  of  nations. 
Are  the  results  of  the  external  policy  of  the  government  so 


EEPLY  TO  POLISH  DEPUTATION 


427 


discouraging  that  we  must  compel  them  to  change  it  by  force 
and  present  ourselves  on  the  frontiers  with  a  sword  instead 
of  freedom  and  peace? 

'No ;  this  policy,  alike  firm  and  pacific,  answers  the  expec- 
tations of  the  republic  too  well  for  us  to  change  it  before  the 
hour  when  the  Powers  shall  change  it  of  themselves.  Look 
at  Belgium;  look  at  Switzerland,  Italy,  all  the  south  of  Ger- 
many; look  at  Vienna,  Berlin;  what  more  do  you  need?  The 
very  possessors  of  your  territories  open  a  path  for  you  to 
your  country  and  call  on  you  to  reconstitute  them  peacefully. 
Be  not  unjust  toward  God,  toward  the  republic,  or  toward  us. 
The  nations  sympathizing  with  Germany,  the  king  of  Prussia 
opening  the  gates  of  his  fortresses  to  your  martyrs,  the  gates 
of  Poland  opened,  Cracow  freed,  the  grand  duchy  of  Posen 
again  becomes  a  Polish  province;  such  are  the  weapons  with 
which  one  month  of  our  policy  has  supplied  you. 

Ask  no  others  at  our  hands.  The  Provisional  Government 
will  not  suffer  its  policy  to  be  changed  by  a  foreign  nation, 
however  great  the  sympathy  it  may  inspire.  Poland  is  dear 
to  us;  Italy  is  dear  to  us;  all  oppressed  peoples  are  dear  to 
us;  but  France  is  dearer  than  all,  and  the  responsibility  of 
her  destinies,  and  possibly  those  of  Europe,  rests  with  us, 
and  we  will  surrender  this  responsibility  to  the  nation  alone. 
Trust  to  the  nation;  trust  to  the  future;  trust  to  those  last 
thirty  days  which  have  already  gained  the  cause  of  French 
democracy  more  ground  than  thirty  pitched  battles,  and  do 
not  disturb  by  force  of  arms,  or  by  an  agitation  which  would 
only  injure  our  common  cause,  the  work  which  Providence 
accomplishes  without  other  arms  than  its  ideas  for  the  re- 
generation of  the  people  and  the  fraternity  of  the  human 
race. 

As  Poles  you  have  spoken  admirably.    As  for  us  it  is  our 


428 


LAMAETINE 


duty  to  speak  as  Frenchmen.  We  must  both  of  us  fulfil  our 
respective  duties.  As  Poles  you  are  justly  impatient  to  fly 
to  the  land  of  your  fathers  and  to  respond  to  the  appeal  which 
the  already  liberated  portion  of  Poland  has  made  to  her 
generous  sons.  We  can  but  applaud  this  sentiment  and  fur- 
nish, as  you  desire,  all  those  pacific  means  which  will  aid  the 
Poles  in  returning  to  their  country,  and  rejoice  at  the  com- 
mencement of  independence  at  Posen. 

We,  as  Frenchmen,  have  not  to  consider  the  interests  of 
Poland  alone;  we  have  to  consider  the  universality  of  that 
European  policy  which  corresponds  to  all  the  horizons  of 
France  and  all  those  interests  of  liberty  of  which  the  French 
republic  is  the  second,  and  we  trust  the  most  glorious  and  the 
last,  outbreak  in  Europe.  The  importance  of  these  interests, 
the  gravity  of  these  resolutions,  render  it  impossible  for  the 
Provisional  Government  of  the  republic  to  surrender  into  the 
hands  of  any  partial  nationality — any  party  in  a  nation,  how- 
ever sacred  its  cause  be — the  responsibility  and  freedom  of 
its  resolutions. 

If  the  policy  toward  Poland,  forced  upon  us  under  the 
monarchy,  be  no  longer  the  line  of  policy  dictated  by  the 
republic,  the  latter  at  least  has  spoken  to  the  world  in  terms 
to  which  we  will  adhere :  she  will  suffer  no  Power  on  the 
face  of  the  earth  to  say  to  her,  Your  words  are  different 
from  your  actions.''  The  republic  must  and  wall  not  act 
in  contradiction  to  her  word;  the  respect  paid  it  is  purchased 
at  this  price,  and  she  will  never  suffer  it  to  fall  into  disrepute 
by  falsifying  it.  What  were  her  expressions  in  her  manifesto 
to  the  Powers?    Her  thoughts  were  with  you  when  she  said, 

The  day  when  it  shall  seem  to  us  that  the  moment  has 
arrived  for  the  resurrection  of  a  nation  unjustly  effaced  from 
the  map,  we  will  hasten  to  its  assistance."    But  we  have 


REPLY  TO  POLISH  DEPUTATION 


429 


reserved  to  ourselves  that  which  pertains  to  France  alone, — 
the  choice  of  the  time,  justice,  cause,  and  reasons  which 
would  make  it  our  duty  to  interfere. 

Well,  up  to  this  moment  we  have  chosen  and  resolved  that 
these  means  should  be  pacification.  See  yourselves,  and  let 
France  and  Europe  see,  if  these  pacific  means  have  deceived 
us  or  deceived  you. 

In  thirty-one  days  the  natural  and  peaceful  results  of  this 
system  of  peace  and  fraternity  which  we  have  declared  we 
would  adopt  toward  people  and  governments  have  proved  of 
more  avail  to  the  cause  of  France,  liberty,  and  Poland  her- 
self than  ten  battles  and  torrents  of  human  blood. 

Vienna,  Berlin,  Italy,  Milan,  Genoa,  Southern  Germany, 
Munich,  all  these  constitutions,  all  these  spontaneous  outbreaks 
of  the  people,  your  own  frontiers  opened  to  you  amid  the 
acclamations  of  Germany,  who  reconstitutes  herself  amid  the 
inviolability  with  which  we  invest  her  territories  and  govern- 
ment. 

Such  is  the  progress  of  the  republic,  thanks  to  this  system 
of  respect  for  the  freedom  of  the  land  and  the  blood  of  man- 
kind. We  shall  never  retreat  into  another  system.  The 
straight  path,  rest  assured,  will  lead  us  to  that  disinterested 
object  we  seek  to  attain  far  better  than  the  tortuous  paths 
of  diplomacy.  Do  not  seek  to  induce  us  to  deviate  from  it 
even  through  the  fraternal  sentiments  we  entertain  toward 
you.  Our  reason  restrains  and  guides  our  feelings  toward 
Poland.  Suffer  us  to  listen  to  the  promptings  of  this  senti- 
ment in  the  full  freedom  of  our  thoughts,  and  learn  that 
these  thoughts  do  not  separate  two  people  whose  blood  has  so 
often  mingled  on  the  battle  plain.  Our  care  for  you,  like  our 
hospitality,  shall  extend  to  your  own  frontiers ;  our  eyes  shall 
follow  you  into  your  own  country.    Bear  thither  with  you 


430 


LAMARTINE 


the  hope  of  that  regeneration  which  commences  for  you  in 
Prussia,  where  jour  banner  floats  at  Berlin.  France  asks 
no  other  return  for  the  asylum  she  has  afforded  you  than 
the  amelioration  of  your  national  destinies  and  the  recollec- 
tions you  will  carry  with  you  of  the  French  name. 


CONGRATULATORY  SPEECH 

[The  following  was  a  reply  to  the  deputation  of  democrats  from  London, 
expressing  the  joy  felt  by  all  the  English  nation  on  learning  that  France 
had  overthrown  the  monarchical  government  in  order  to  found  the  republic 
on  the  basis  of  liberty,  equality,  and  fraternity.] 

AS  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  of  the  Provisional  Govern- 
ment of  the  E.epublic,  and  in  the  absence  of  our  vener- 
able president,  I  am  charged  to  reply  to  your  honor- 
able deputation.  But  I  do  not  need  this  title,  for  after  the 
magnificent  and  pious  language  we  have  just  heard  there  is 
no  longer  any  other  minister  of  foreign  affairs  than  the  sym- 
pathy between  the  two  nations. 

They  will  be  for  the  future  governed  by  their  own  feeling; 
and  it  is  because  they  are  governed  by  their  own  prudence  and 
love  for  the  human  race  that  the  peace  of  the  world  is  assured. 
Royalty,  which  the  people  have  abolished  with  so  much  glory 
and  courage,  has  crushed  in  its  fall  all  the  prejudices  which 
separated  the  nations. 

Among  this  number — that  which  caused  France  and  Eng- 
land the  most  regret,  that  which  grieved  the  most  all  those 
sentiments  of  religion  and  humanity  which  will  for  the  future 
be  the  policy  of  nations — ^was  this  international  prejudice 
w^hich  forced  us,  as  it  were  officially,  to  hate  men  for  whom 
in  our  hearts  we  felt  the  strongest  and  warmest  sympathy. 
This  prejudice,  will  not  exist  under  the  new  republic. 


CONGRATULATORY  SPEECH 


431 


Kings  have  jealousies  and  ambitions.  Kings  dispute  and 
shed  the  blood  of  their  subjects  in  disputing  a  fragment  of 
territory  to  increase  the  lustre  of  their  crowns ;  but  the  people 
have  another  ambition  which  does  not  cost  mankind  one  drop 
of  blood  or  a.  tear,  and  this  is  the  ambition  of  the  two  people 
whom  we  have  the  glory  of  representing.  From  this  day, 
when  the  republic  receives  from  the  English  nation  the  most 
touching  and  spontaneous  recognition,  nothing  prevents  the 
fulfilment  of  the  great  idea  of  the  French  Revolution  at  its 
origin,  that  idea  which  sprang  to  light  in  France  at  the  same 
moment  with  political  liberty;  nothing  prevents  its  fulfilment. 
This  idea  is,  as  you  well  know,  the  honorable,  indissoluble 
alliance  of  the  two  most  civilized  nations  of  the  globe,  for  the 
purpose  of  assuring  the  peace  of  the  C^ontinent  and  putting  an 
end  to  that  bloodshed  which  has  made  a  few  men  celebrated, 
but  which  is  a  disgrace  to  humanity. 

I  thank  you,  not  only  in  the  name  of  the  French  nation,  but 
in  the  name  of  humanity,  for  the  sentiments  that  pervade  this 
address.  We  will  have  it  translated  and  made  known  to  all 
the  citizens  of  the  universe,  and  preserve  it  carefully  in  the 
archives  of  the  republic  amongst  those  titles  which  she  will 
feel  most  pride  in  exhibiting  to  her  descendants. 

The  names  of  the  delegates  of  the  great  towns  of  England 
who  have  signed  this  address  are  a  guarantee  of  the  sympathy 
of  the  English  people. 

We  should  have  felt  that  we  had  only  acquired  a  selfish 
freedom  if  we  had  reserved  its  benefits  for  ourselves  alone ;  we 
therefore  hastened  to  proclaim  liberty  for  all  our  brethren, 
and  we  rejoice  to  be  in  harmony  on  this  occasion  with  the 
noble  sentiments  of  England,  who  so  long  since  freed  all  the 
blacks  in  her  colonies.  As  soon  as  the  Assembly  meets  she 
will  confirm  the  principles  proclaimed  by  us  on  the  morrow  of 


432 


LAMARTINB 


OUT  glorious  revolution.  We  have  only  reserved  one  question 
— tihat  of  indemnity. 


REPLY  TO  CLUB  DELEGATES 

[In  the  following  speech  Lamartine  demands,  in  the  name  of  the  people, 
the  withdrawal  of  the  troops,  the  postponement  of  the  elections  of  the 
National  Guard,  and  the  postponement  of  the  elections  of  the  National 
Assembly.] 

GEN^TLEMEISr, — I  have  been  called  upon  by  my 
name,  and  I  respond  to  the  call  and  demand  to  be 
heard. 

I  shall  add  nothing  to  what  our  colleague,  M.  Louis  Blanc, 
has  just  said  with  as  much  dignity  as  truth.  You  feel  like 
us  in  whom  the  people  have  reposed  their  confidence  and 
impersonified  themselves  on  the  day  of  their  contest  and  vic- 
tory, that  there  can  be  no  government  except  on  the  condition 
of  your  possessing  sufficient  confidence  and  sufficient  sense  to 
invest  this  government  with  a  moral  authority.  What  is  the 
moral  authority  of  this  government — not  only  in  its  own  eyes, 
in  those  of  the  people,  of  the  departments,  of  Europe — but  its 
entire  freedom  from  external  influence  and  pressure  ?  This  is 
the  independence  of  the  government,  its  dignity,  its  sole 
moral  force.  Why  are  we  here?  Look  around.  Behold  our 
venerable  president,  bowed  down  with  the  weight  and  glory 
of  eighty  years,  and  who  has  yet  devoted  his  last  years  of  life 
to  establish  a  free,  independent,  dignified  republic;  and  when 
we  speak  of  liberty  and  independence  who  dare  impugn  the 
name  of  Dupont  (de  PEure)?  Around  us  what  do  you 
behold?    A  small  group  of  men,  without  arms,  support,  sol- 


REPLY  TO  CLUB  DELEGATES 


433 


diers,  or  guards,  who  possess  no  other  authority  than  what  the 
people  accord  by  respecting  them,  who  seek  no  other,  who 
mingle  with  the  people  from  whom  they  have  sprung,  and 
who  have  only  assumed  so  energetic  and  perilous  a  position  in 
the  republic  to  guarantee  those  popular  interests  which  have 
hitherto  been  sacrificed  beneath  the  monarchies,  aristocracies, 
and  oligarchies  through  which  we  have  passed.  But  in  order 
that  this  feeling  may  have  its  proper  effect,  in  order  that 
these  popular  principles  may  be  usefully  applied  in  promoting 
the  happiness  of  people,  what  is  needed?  The  peaceable  con- 
tinuation of  this  confidence  you  have  given  us.  With  what 
can  we  oppose  you?  With  but  one  thing  only — your  own 
reason :  that  power  of  general  reason  which  alone  interposes 
between  you  and  ourselves,  which  inspires  us  and  restrains 
you.  It  is  this  invisible  and  yet  all-powerful  force 
which  renders  us  calm  and  composed,  independent  and 
dignified,  in  the  presence  of  the  multitude  that  surrounds 
this  palace  of  the  people,  which  is  only  protected  by  its 
inviolability. 

We  will  defend  this  last  barrier  of  our  inviolability  with  our 
lives,  both  as  a  government  and  as  men,  should  the  multitude 
seek  to  break  it  down ;  and  it  is  not  for  ourselves,  but  for  you, 
we  would  do  so;  for  what  would  become  of  the  people  without 
a  government,  of  what  avail  to  the  people  would  be  a  degraded 
government  ? 

I  come  to  the  three  demands  you  have  made,  a  delay  of  ten 
days  more  in  the  Sections  of  the  ^Tational  Guard. 

We  have  already  at  a  previous  meeting  felt  it  our  duty  to 
forestall  alike  the  legitimate  wishes  of  the  people  and  your 
own  request.  It  was  represented  to  us  that  the  imposing, 
solid,  patriotic,  and  republican  mass  of  the  population  which 
forms  the  immense  popular  element  of  Paris  had  not  possiblv 

Vol.  5-28 


434 


LAMABTINB 


had  sufficient  time  to  enroll  their  names,  and  thus  form  a  part 
of  that  large  patriotic  frame  in  which  we  desire  to  consolidate 
and  fix  the  republic  for  the  future.  We  had  first  adjourned 
the  elections  for  a  week,  we  have  now  done  so  until  the  25th 
of  March.  I  cannot  give  my  unsupported  opinion  on  the 
result  of  the  fresh  deliberation  that  may  take  place  with 
respect  to  these  measures;  but  you  have  a  fortnight  to  enroll 
yourselves.  As  to  the  troops,  I  have  already  told  one  of  the 
patriotic  associations  to  which  you  belong,  there  are  no  troops 
at  Paris  except  1,500  or  2,000  men  dispersed  at  the  outposts 
for  the  protection  of  the  gates  and  railroads;  and  it  is  utterly 
untrue  that  the  government  ever  had  the  least  design  of  sum- 
moning any  to  Paris.  We  must  be  mad,  after  what  had 
passed, — after  fallen  royalty  beheld  80,000  men  fraternize 
with  the  people,  did  we  dream  of  forcing  on  the  people,  with 
only  a  few  scattered  corps  d^armee  animated  by  the  same 
republican  spirit,  measures  at  variance  with  your  wishes  and 
your  independence.  We  never  have  entertained  such  an  idea, 
we  do  not,  we  never  shall.  Such  is  the  truth, — repeat  it  to 
the  people;  their  liberty  belongs  to  them  because  they  have 
won  it ;  it  belongs  to  them  because  they  will  protect  it  from  all 
outrage.  The  republic  at  home  needs  no  other  defenders  than 
the  armed  people.  But  whatever  may  be  the  truth  to-day — 
and  although  we  declare  that  we  only  need  the  armed  people 
to  protect  our  institutions — do  not  conclude  that  we  would 
ever  consent  to  the  humiliation  of  the  French  soldiers;  do 
not  conclude  that  we  suspect  our  brave  am§^  or  that  we  resign 
the  right  of  summoning  them  to  the  interior,  or  even  to 
Paris,  did  circumstances  require  such  a  disposition  of  our 
forces  to  ensure  the  safety  of  the  country. 

The  soldier  who  yesterday  was  but  a  soldier  is  to-day  a 
citizen  like  ourselves;  and  we  have  given  him  the  privilege  of 


REPLY  TO  CLUB  DELEGATES 


435 


voting  for  the  order  and  liberty  which  he  will  defend  as 
effectually  as  any  other  member  of  the  people. 

Kespecting  the  third  and  principal  question — ^the  proroga- 
tion to  a  remote  period  of  the  convocation  of  the  National 
Assembly — I  will  not  pledge  the  opinion  of  my  colleagues, 
more  especially  my  own,  as  to  a  measure  which  I  think 
involves  the  interest  of  the  country  too  deeply.  Out  of 
respect  for  our  independence  I  will  say  nothing  beforehand  on 
a  measure  which  would  declare  to  the  whole  nation  that  Paris 
affects  to  monopolize  liberty  and  the  republic,  and  which  would 
make  us  assume  in  the  name  of  the  capital  alone  and  under  the 
influence  of  a  mass,  well-intentioned  but  formidable  from  their 
very  number,  the  dictatorship  of  that  republic  which  was  won 
by  every  one,  but  won  for  the  whole  of  France  and  not  for  a 
few  citizens. 

If  you  bid  me  deliberate  under  menace,  and  declare  beyond 
the  pale  of  the  law  all  the  districts  not  at  Paris, — declare  them, 
during  three  or  six  months,  deprived  of  their  representative 
rights  and  their  constitution, — I  will  say  to  you,  as  I  did  to 
another  government,  "  You  shall  only  tear  this  vote  from  my 
heart  with  the  balls  that  have  pierced  it."  'No:  deprive  us  a 
thousand  times  of  our  titles  rather  than  of  our  unfettered 
opinions,  cur  dignity,  our  unquestionable  inviolability,  as 
unquestionable  abroad  as  at  home.  See  your  power  in  ours, 
your  dignity  in  ours,  your  independence  in  ours,  and  suffer  us 
for  the  very  interest  of  the  people  to  reflect  and  deliberate  with 
calmness — to  adopt  or  throw  out  those  measures  which  you  lay 
before  us.  We  only — I  only — promise  to  weigh  them  impar- 
tially in  our  conscience  and  to  decide  upon  that  which  seems 
to  us  not  only  the  desire  of  the  Parisians,  but  the  right  and 
desire  of  the  whole  republic. 


RICHARD  LALOR  SHEIL 


ICHARD  Lalor  Sheil,  Irish  orator,  dramatist,  and  politician,  Styled 
"O'Connell's  impassioned  lieutenant,"  was  born  at  Drumdowney,  Water- 
ford,  Ireland,  Aug.  17,  1791,  and  died  at  Florence,  Italy,  May  25,  1851. 
He  was  educated  at  the  Jesuit  College,  Stoneyhurst,  and  at  Trinity  Col- 
lege, Dublin,  and,  studying  law,  was  in  1814  called  to  the  Irish  Bar.  Clients  at 
first,  however,  were  scarce,  and  he  supported  himself  by  writing  six  dramas  and 
contributing  to  a  magazine  his  brilliant  "  Sketches  of  the  Irish  Bar."  Among  his 
plays,  some  of  which  were  highly  successful  and  were  produced  both  at  a  Dublin 
theatre  and  later  at  Covent  Garden,  London,  the  best  are,  "Adelaide,  or  the  Emi- 
grants" (1814),  "The  Apostate"  (1817),  "Bellamira"  (1818),  "Evadne"  (1819), 
"The  Huguenot"  (1819),  and  "Montoni"  (1820).  Meanwhile,  he  had  become  one 
of  the  founders  of  the  Catholic  Association,  and  took  part  with  Daniel  O'Connell 
in  the  movement  which  resulted  in  Catholic  Emancipation.  In  1829,  he  received  his 
silk  gown  as  king's  counsel,  and  in  the  following  year  entered  the  imperial  Parlia- 
ment, where  he  won  fame  as  an  orator,  his  eloquence  often  electrifying  the  Com- 
mons, especially  where  his  theme  bore  on  Irish  questions  and  touched  his  patriot 
heart.  In  1838,  he  become  a  commissioner  of  Greenwich  Hospital,  and  in  the  fol« 
lowing  year,  in  Lord  Melbourne's  administration,  he  was  appointed  vice-president  ot 
the  Board  of  Trade,  and  on  Lord  John  Russell's  accession  to  power  he  became 
Master  of  the  Mint.  For  a  time,  also,  he  held  the  office  of  judge-advocate-general, 
and  in  1850  he  was  sent  as  British  Minister  to  Florence,  where  he  died  in  his  six- 
tieth year. 

IN  DEFENCE  OF  IRISH  CATHOLICS 

FROM  A  SPEECH  DELIVERED  IN  1838 

CALUMNIATOKS  of  Catholicism,  have  you  read 
the  history  of  your  country?    Of  the  charges 
against  the  religion  of  Ireland,  the  annals  of  Eng- 
land afford  the  confutation.    The  body  of  your  common 
law  was  given  by  the  Catholic  Alfred.    He  gave  you  yout 

judges,  your  magistrates,  your  high  sheriffs,  your  court? 
(436) 


IN  DEFENCE  OF  IRISH  CATHOLICS 


487 


of  justice,  your  elective  system,  and,  the  great  bulwark 
of  your  liberties,  the  trial  by  jury.  Who  conferred  upon 
the  people  the  right  of  self-taxation,  and  fixed,  if  he  did 
not  create,  their  representation?  The  Catholic  Edward  I.; 
while,  in  the  reign  of  Edward  III.,  perfection  was  given 
to  the  representative  system,  parliaments  were  annually 
called,  and  the  statute  against  constructive  treason  was 
enacted.  It  is  false — foully,  infamously  false — that  the 
Catholic  religion,  the  religion  of  your  forefathers,  the  re- 
ligion of  seven  millions  of  your  fellow-subjects,  has  been 
the  auxiliary  of  debasement,  and  that  to  its  influence  the 
suppression  of  British  freedom  can,  in  a  single  instance, 
be  referred.  I  am  loth  to  say  that  which  can  give  you 
cause  to  take  offence;  but,  when  the  faith  of  my  country 
is  made  the  object  of  imputation,  I  cannot  help,  I  cannot 
refrain,  from  breaking  into  a  retaliatory  interrogation,  and 
from  asking  whether  the  overthrow  of  the  old  religion  of 
England  was  not  effected  by  a  tyrant,  with  a  hand  of  iron 
and  a  heart  of  stone — whether  Henry  did  not  trample  upon 
freedom,  while  upon  Catholicism  he  set  his  foot;  and 
whether  Elizabeth  herself,  the  virgin  of  the  Reformation, 
did  not  inherit  her  despotism  with  her  creed;  whether  in 
her  reign  the  most  barbarous  atrocities  were  not  committed 
— whether  torture,  in  violation  of  the  Catholic  common 
law  of  England,  was  not  politically  inflicted,  and  with  the 
shrieks  of  agony  the  Towers  of  Julius,  in  the  dead  of 
night,  did  not  reecho. 

You  may  suggest  to  me  that  in  the  larger  portion  of 
Catholic  Europe  freedom  does  not  exist;  but  you  should 
bear  in  mind  that,  at  a  period  wben  the  Catholic  religion 
was  in  its  most  palmy  state,  freedom  flourished  in  the 
countries  in  which  it  is  now  extinct.    False — I  repeat  it. 


438 


RICHARD  LALOR  SHEIL 


witL.  all  tlie  vehemence  of  indignant  asseveration — utterly 
false  is  the  charge  habitually  preferred  against  the  religion 
which  Englishmen  have  laden  with  penalties  and  have 
marked  with  degradation.  I  can  bear  with  any  other 
charge  but  this — to  any  other  charge  I  can  listen  with 
endurance.  Tell  me  that  I  prostrate  myself  before  a  sculp- 
tured marble;  tell  me  that  to  a  canvas  glowing  with  the 
imagery  of  heaven  I  bend  my  knee;  tell  me  that  my  faith 
is  my  perdition — and,  as  you  traverse  the  churchyards  in 
which  your  forefathers  are  buried,  pronounce  upon  those 
who  have  lain  there  for  many  hundred  years  a  fearful  and 
appalling  sentence — yes,  call  what  I  regard  as  the  truth, 
not  only  an  error,  but  a  sin,  to  which  mercy  shall  not  be 
extended — all  this  I  will  bear — to  all  this  I  will  submit — 
nay,  at  all  this  I  will  but  smile — but  do  not  tell  me  that 
I  am  in  heart  and  creed  a  slave! — That,  my  countrymen 
cannot  brook!  In  their  own  bosoms  they  carry  the  high 
consciousness  that  never  was  imputation  more  foully  false, 
or  more  detestably  calumnious ! 


ON  THE  JEWISH  DISABILITIES  BILL 

[From  the  time  of  Mr.  Robert  Grant's  motion  for  the  admission  of  Jews 
to  Parliament,  April  5,  1830,  bills  to  this  end  were  repeatedly  brought  in 
and  occasionally  passed  by  the  Commons  but  always  thrown  out  by  the 
Lords.  The  election  of  Baron  Rothschild  for  the  city  of  London  in  1847 
added  a  new  zest  to  Jewish  Emancipation.  It  was  not,  however,  until 
1858  that  the  Jewish  Disabilities  were  entirely  removed.  The  following 
speech  was  delivered  in  the  House  of  Commons  February  7,  1848.] 

SIR, — If  the  honorable  the  learned  and  exceedingly  able 
gentleman  who  has  just  sat  down  [Mr.  Walpole]  had 
been  a  member  of  the  House  of  Commons  when  the 
member  for  Tamworth  brought  forward  the  measure  of  Eman- 
cipation, the  speech  which  he  has  this  night  pronounced 


ON  THF]  JEWISH   DISABILITIES  BILL 


439 


against  the  Jews  would  have  been  fully  as  apposite  upon  that 
great  historical  occasion.  With  all  his  habits  of  fine  forensic 
discrimination  I  do  not  think  that  he  can  distinguish  between 
the  objections  urged  against  the  Catholic  and  against  the  Jew. 
He  has,  for  example,  strenuously  insisted  that  in  the  writ  by 
which  the  sheriff  is  commanded  to  hold  an  election  a  reference 
is  made  to  the  maintenance  of  the  Anglican  Church.  That 
objection  is  nearly  as  strong  when  applied  to  the  Unitarian, 
the  Baptist,  the  Independent,  and,  above  all,  to  the  professors 
of  the  religion  to  which  it  is  my  good  fortune  to  belong.  That 
men  subject  to  all  the  duties  should  be  deemed  unworthy  of 
the  rights  of  Englishmen  appears  to  me  to  be  a  remarkable 
anomaly.  The  enjoyment  of  rights  ought  not  to  be  dissociated 
from  the  liabilities  to  duties.  A  British  subject  ought  in  every 
regard  to  be  considered  a  British  citizen ;  and  inasmuch  as  the 
professors  of  the  most  ancient  religion  in  the  world,  which,  as 
far  as  it  goes,  we  not  only  admit  to  be  true,  but  hold  to  be  the 
foundation  of  our  own,  are  bound  to  the  performance  of  every 
duty  which  attaches  to  a  British  subject,  to  a  full  fruition  of 
every  right  which  belongs  to  a  British  citizen,  they  have,  I 
think,  an  irrefragable  title.  A  Jew  born  in  England  cannot 
transfer  his  allegiance  from  his  sovereign  and  his  country;  if 
he  were  to  enter  the  ser^dce  of  a  foreign  power  engaged  in  hos- 
tilities with  England  and  were  taken  in  arms  he  would  be 
accounted  a  traitor.  Is  a  Jew  an  Englishman  for  no  other 
purposes  than  those  of  condemnation?  I  am  not  aware  of  a 
single  obligation  to  which  other  Englishmen  are  liable  from 
which  a  Jew  is  exempt ;  and  if  his  religion  confers  on  him  no 
sort  of  immunity  it  ought  not  to  affect  him  with  any  kind  of 
disqualification. 

It  has  been  said  in  the  course  of  these  discussions  that  a 
Jew  is  not  subject  to  penalties,  but  to  privations.    But  what  is 


440 


RICHARD   LALOR  SHEIL 


privation  but  a  synonym  for  penalty  ?  Privation  of  life,  priva- 
tion of  liberty,  privation  of  property,  privation  of  country,  pri- 
vation of  right,  privation  of  privilege — these  are  degrees 
widely  distant  indeed,  but  still  degrees  in  the  graduated  scale 
of  persecution.  The  parliamentary  disability  that  affects  the 
Jew  has  been  designated  in  the  course  of  these  debates  by  the 
mollified  expressions  to  which  men  who  impart  euphemism  to 
severity  are  in  the  habit  of  resorting;  but  most  assuredly  an 
exclusion  from  the  House  of  Commons  ought  in  the  House  of 
Commons  itself  to  be  regarded  as  a  most  grievous  detriment. 
With  the  dignity  and  the  greatness  and  the  pofver  of  this,  the 
first  assembly  in  the  world,  the  hardship  of  exclusion  is  com- 
mensurate. Some  of  the  most  prominent  opponents  of  this 
measure  are  among  the  last  by  whom  a  seat  in  Parliament 
ought  to  be  held  in  little  account.  On  this  branch  of  the  case 
— the  hardship  of  an  exclusion  from  this  House — I  can  speak 
as  a  witness  as  well  as  an  advocate.  I  belong  to  that  great 
and  powerful  community  which  was  a  few  years  ago  subject  to 
the  same  disqualification  that  affects  the  Jew,  and  I  felt  that 
disqualification  to  be  most  degrading.  Of  myself  I  will  not 
speak,  because  I  can  speak  of  the  most  illustrious  person  by 
whom  that  community  was  adorned.  I  have  sat  under  the  gal- 
lery of  the  Plouse  of  Commons  by  the  side  of  Mr.  O'C'onnell 
during  a  great  discussion  on  which  the  destiny  of  Ireland  was 
dependent.  I  was  with  him  when  Plunket  convinced,  and 
Brougham  surprised,  and  Canning  charmed,  and  Peel 
instructed,  and  Russell  exalted  and  improved.  How  have  I 
seen  him  repine  at  his  exclusion  from  the  field  of  high  intel- 
lectual encounter  in  those  lists  in  which  so  many  competitors 
for  glory  were  engaged,  and  into  which,  with  an  injurious  ti- 
diness, he  was  afterwards  admitted!  How  have  I  seen  him 
chafe  the  chain  which  bound  him  down,  but  which,  with  an 


ON  THE  JEWISH   DISABILITIES  BILL 


441 


effort  of  gigantic  prowess,  he  burst  at  last  to  pieces!  lie  was 
at  the  head  of  millions  of  an  organized  and  indissoluble  people. 
The  Jew  comes  here  with  no  other  arguments  than  those  which 
reason  and  truth  supply;  but  reason  and  truth  are  of  counsel 
with  him;  and  in  this  assembly,  which  I  believe  to  represent 
not  only  the  high  intelligence  but  the  high-mindedness  of  Eng- 
land, reason  will  not  long  be  baffled,  and  truth,  in  fufilment  of 
its  great  aphorism,  will  at  last  prevail. 

I  will  assume  that  the  exclusion  from  this  House  is  a  great 
privation,  and  I  proceed  to  consider  whether  it  be  not  a  great 
wrong,  l^othing  but  necessity  could  afford  its  justification; 
and  of  this  plea  we  should  be  taught,  by  a  phrase  v\^hich  has 
almost  grown  proverbial,  to  beware.  Cardinal  Caraffa  relied 
upon  necessity  when  he  founded  that  celebrated  tribunal  whose 
practices  are  denounced  by  you,  but  upon  whose  maxims  have 
a  care  lest  you  should  unconsciously  proceed.  The  sophisti- 
cations of  intolerance  are  refuted  by  their  inconsistencies.  If 
a  Jew  can  choose,  wherefore  should  he  not  be  chosen?  If  a 
Jew  can  vote  for  a  Christian,  why  should  not  a  Christian  vote 
for  a  Jew?  Again,  the  Jew  is  admissible  to  the  highest 
municipal  employments;  a  Jew  can  be  high  sheriffs —  in  other 
words,  he  can  impanel  the  jury  by  which  the  first  Christian 
commoner  in  England  may  be  tried  for  his  life.  But  if  neces- 
sity is  to  be  pleaded  as  a  justification  for  the  exclusion  of  the 
Jew  it  must  be  founded  on  some  great  peril  which  would  arise 
from  his  admission.  What  is  it  you  fear?  ^Hiat  is  the  origin 
of  this  Hebrewphobia  ?  Do  you  tremble  for  the  Church  ?  The 
Church  has  something  perhaps  to  fear  from  eight  millions  of 
Catholics  and  from  three  millions  of  Methodists  and  more  than 
a  million  of  Scotch  seceders.  The  Church  may  have  some- 
thing to  fear  from  the  assault  of  sectaries  from  without,  and 
still  more  to  fear  from  a  sort  of  spurious  Popery  and  the 


442 


RICHARD   LALOR  SHEIL 


machinations  of  mitred  mutiny  from  within;  but  from  the 
Synagogue — the  neutral,  impartial,  apathetic,  and  unprose- 
lytizing  Synagogue — the  Church  has  nothing  to  apprehend. 
But  it  is  said  that  the  House  will  become  unchristianized.  The 
Christianity  of  the  Parliament  depends  on  the  Christianity  of 
the  country ;  and  the  Christianity  of  the  country  is  fixed  in  the 
faith  and  inseparably  intertwined  with  the  affections  of  the 
people.  It  is  as  stable  as  England  herself,  and  as  long  as  Par- 
liament shall  endure,  while  the  constitution  shall  stand,  until 
the  great  mirror  of  the  nation's  mind  shall  have  been  shat- 
tered to  pieces,  the  religious  feelings  of  the  country  will  be 
faithfully  reflected  here.  This  is  a  security  far  better  than 
can  be  supplied  by  a  test  which  presents  a  barrier  to  an  honest 
Jew,  but  which  a  scornful  skeptic  can  so  readily  and  so  disdain- 
fully overleap. 

Reference  has  been  made  in  the  course  of  these  discussions 
to  the  author  of  "  The  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire.'* 
A  name  still  more  illustrious  might  have  been  cited.  Was 
not  the  famous  St.  John — was  not  Bolingbroke,  the  fatally 
accomplished,  the  admiration  of  the  admirable,  to  whom 
genius  paid  an  almost  idolatrous  homage,  and  by  whom  a  sort 
of  fascination  was  exercised  over  all  those  who  had  the  mis- 
fortune to  approach  him — was  not  the  unhappy  skeptic,  by 
whom  far  more  mischief  to  religion  and  morality  must  have 
been  done  than  could  be  effected  by  half  a  hundred  of  the 
men' by  whom  the  Old  Testament  is  exclusively  received,  a 
member  of  this  House?  Was  he  stopped  by  the  test  that 
arrests  the  Jew;  or  did  he  not  trample  upon  it  and  ascend 
through  this  House  to  a  sort  of  masterdom  in  England  and 
become  the  confidential  and  favorite  adviser  of  his  sovereign? 
He  was  not  only  an  avowed  and  ostentatious  infidel,  but  he 
was  swayed  by  a  distempered  and  almost  insane  solicitude  for 


ON  THE  JEWISH   DISABILITIES  BILL 


443 


the  dissemination  of  his  disastrous  disbelief.  Is  it  not  then 
preposterous  that  a  man  by  whom  all  revealed  religion  is  repu- 
diated, who  doubts  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  doubts  a  future 
state  of  rewards  and  punishments,  doubts  in  a  superintending 
Providence,  believes  in  nothing,  fears  nothing,  and  hopes  for 
nothing,  without  any  incentive  to  virtue,  and  without  any 
restraint  upon  depravity  excepting  such  as  a  sense  of  conven- 
tional honor  or  the  promptings  of  a  natural  good.ness  may  have 
given  him — is  it  not,  I  say,  preposterous,  and  almost  mon- 
strous, that  such  a  man,  for  whom  a  crown  of  deadly  night- 
shade should  be  woven,  should  be  enabled,  by  playing  the 
imposture  of  a  moment  and  uttering  a  valueless  formula  at 
the  table  of  the  House,  to  climb  to  the  pinnacle  of  power ;  and 
that  you  should  slap  the  doors  of  this  House  with  indignity 
upon  a  conscientious  man  who  adheres  to  the  faith  in  which 
he  was  bom  and  bred;  who  believes  in  the  great  facts  that 
constitute  the  foundation  of  Christianity ;  who  believes  in  the 
perpetual  existence  of  the  nobler  portion  of  our  being;  who 
believes  in  future  retribution  and  in  recompense  to  come;  who 
believes  that  the  world  is  taken  care  of  by  its  almighty  and 
everlasting  Author;  who  believes  in  the  mercy  of  Grod  and  prac- 
tises humanity  to  man;  who  fulfils  the  ten  great  injunctions 
in  which  all  morality  is  comprised;  whose  ear  was  never  deaf 
to  the  supplications  of  the  suffering;  whose  hand  is  as  open 
as  day  to  charity;  and  whose  life  presents  an  exemplification 
of  the  precepts  of  the  Gospel  far  more  faithful  than  that  of 
many  a  man  by  whom,  in  the  name  of  the  Gospel,  his  dishonor- 
ing and  unchristian  disabilities  are  most  wantonly,  most  inju- 
riously, and  most  opprobriously  maintained?  But  where  in 
the  Scripture — in  what  chapter,  in  what  text,  in  what  single 
phrase — ^will  you  find  an  authority  for  resorting  to  the  inflic- 
tion of  temporal  penalty,  or  of  temporal  privation  of  any  kind. 


444 


EICHAED  LALOR  SHEIL 


as  a  means  of  propagating  heavenly  trutk?  You  may  find  an 
authority,  indeed,  in  the  writings  of  jurists  and  of  divines,  and 
in  the  stern  theology  of  those  austere  and  haughty  churchmen 
by  whom  the  Pharisaical  succession,  far  better  than  the  Apos- 
tolical, is  personally  and  demonstratively  proved.  But  you 
mil  not  find  it  in  the  IsTew  Testament";  you  will  not  find  it  in 
Matthew,  nor  in  Mark,  nor  in  Luke,  nor  in  John,  nor  in  the 
epistles  of  the  meek  and  humble  men  to  whom  the  teaching  of 
all  nations  was  given  in  charge ;  above  all,  you  will  not  find  in 
it  anything  that  was  ever  said,  or  anything  that  was  ever  done, 
or  anything  that  was  ever  suffered,  by  the  Divine  Author  of 
the  Christian  religion,  who  spoke  the  Sermon  on  the  Mountain, 
who  said  that  the  merciful  should  be  blessed,  and  who,  instead 
of  ratifying  the  anathema  which  the  people  of  Jerusalem  had 
invoked  upon  themselves,  prayed  for  forgiveness  for  those  who 
knew  not  what  they  did  in  consummating  the  Sacrifice  that 
was  offered  up  for  the  transgressions  of  the  world. 

It  was  not  by  persecution,  but  despite  of  it — despite  of 
imprisonment,  and  exile,  and  spoliation,  and  shame,  and  death, 
despite  the  dungeon,  the  wheel,  the  bed  of  steel,  and  the 
couch  of  fire — ^that  the  Christian  religion  made  its  irresistible 
and  superhuman  way.  And  is  it  not  repugnant  to  common 
reason,  as  well  as  to  the  elementary  principles  of  Christianity 
itself,  to  hold  that  it  is  to  be  maintained  by  means  diametric- 
ally the  reverse  of  those  by  which  it  was  propagated  and  dif- 
fused? But,  alas!  for  our  frail  and  fragile  nature,  no  sooner 
had  the  professors  of  Christianity  become  the  copartners  of 
secular  authority  than  the  severities  were  resorted  to  which 
their  persecuted  predecessors  had  endured.  The  Jew  was 
selected  as  an  object  of  special  and  peculiar  infliction.  The 
history  of  that  most  unhappy  people  is,  for  century  after  cen- 
tury, a  trail  of  chains  and  a  track  of  blood.    Men  of  mercy 


ON  THE  JEWISH  DISABILITIES  BILL 


445 


occasionally  arose  to  interpose  in  their  behalf.  St.  Bernard — • 
the  Great  St.  Bernard,  the  last  of  the  Latin  Fathers — with  a 
most  pathetic  eloquence  took  their  part.  But  the  light  that 
gleamed  from  the  ancient  turrets  of  the  Abbey  of  Clairvaux 
was  transitory  and  evanescent.  New  centuries  of  persecution 
followed;  the  Reformation  did  nothing  for  the  Jew.  The 
infallibility  of  Geneva  was  sterner  than  the  infallibility  of 
Rome.  But  all  of  us, — C'alvinists,  Protestants,  Catholics, — 
all  of  us  who  have  torn  the  seamless  garment  into  pieces  have 
sinned  most  fearfully  in  this  terrible  regard. 

It  is,  however,  some  consolation  to  know  that  in  Roman 
Catholic  countries  expiation  of  this  guilt  has  commenced.  In 
France  and  in  Belgium  all  civil  distinction  between  the  Prot- 
estant and  the  J ew  is  at  an  end.  To  this  Protestant  country 
a  great  example  will  not  have  been  vainly  given.  There  did 
exist  in  England  a  vast  mass  of  prejudice  upon  this  question, 
which  is,  however,  rapidly  giving  way.  London,  the  point  of 
imperial  centralization,  has  made  a  noble  manifestation  of  its 
will.  London  has  advisedly,  deliberately,  and  with  benevo- 
lence aforethought  selected  the  most  prominent  member  of  the 
Jewish  community  as  its  representative  and  united  him  with 
the  first  minister  of  the  Crown.  Is  the  Parliament  prepared 
to  fling  back  the  Jew  upon  the  people  in  order  that  the  people 
should  fling  back  the  Jew  upon  the  Parliament  ?  That  will  bo 
a  dismal  game,  in  the  deprecation  of  whose  folly  and  whose 

evils  the  Christian  and  the  statesman  should  concur.    But  not 

■* 

only  are  the  disabilities  which  it  is  the  object  of  this  measure 
to  repeal  at  variance  with  genuine  Christianity,  but  I  do  not 
hesitate  to  assert  that  they  operate  as  impediments  to  the  con- 
version of  the  J ews  and  are  productive  of  consequences  directly 
the  reverse  of  those  for  which  they  were  originally  designed. 
Those  disabilities  are  not  sufficiently  onerous  to  be  compal- 


446 


EICHARD  LALOR  SHEIL 


sory,  but  they  are  sufficiently  vexatious  to  make  conversion 
a  synonym  for  apostacy  and  to  affix  a  stigma  to  an  interested 
conformity  with  the  religion  of  the  State.  We  have  relieved 
the  Jew  from  the  ponderous  mass  of  fetters  that  bound  him 
by  the  neck  and  by  the  feet ;  but  the  lines  which  we  have  left, 
apparently  light,  are  strong  enough  to  attach  him  to  his  creed 
and  make  it  a  point  of  honor  that  he  should  not  desert  it. 

There  exists  in  this  country  a  most  laudable  anxiety  for 
the  conversion  of  the  Jews.  Meetings  are  held  and  money 
is  largely  subscribed  for  the  purpose;  but  all  these  creditable 
endeavors  will  be  ineffectual  unless  we  make  a  restitution  of 
his  birthright  to  every  Englishman  who  professes  the  Jewish 
religion.  I  know  that  there  are  those  who  think  that  there 
is  no  such  thing  as  an  English,  or  a  French,  or  a  Spanish  Jew. 
A  Jew  is  but  a  Jew ;  his  nationality,  it  is  said,  is  engrossed  by 
the  hand  of  recollection  and  of  hope,  and  the  house  of  Jacob 
must  remain  forever  in  a  state  of  isolation  among  the  strange 
people  by  whom  it  is  encompassed.  In  answer  to  these  sophis- 
tries I  appeal  to  human  nature.  It  is  not  wonderful  that 
when  the  Jew  was  oppressed  and  pillaged  and  branded  in  a 
captivity  worse  than  Babylonian,  he  should  have  felt  upon 
the  banks  of  the  Thames,  or  of  the  Seine,  or  the  Danube,  as 
his  forefathers  felt  by  the  waters  of  the  Euphrates,  and  that 
the  psalm  of  exile  should  have  found  an  echo  in  his  heart. 
This  is  not  strange ;  it  would  have  been  strange  if  it  had  been 
otherwise;  but  justice — even  partial  justice — has  already  oper- 
ated a  salutary  change. 

In  the  same  manner  in  which  we  have  relaxed  the  laws 
against  the  Jews,  that  patriot  instinct  by  which  we  are  taught 
to  love  the  land  of  our  birth  has  been  revived.  British  feel- 
ing has  already  taken  root  in  the  heart  of  the  Jew,  and  for  its 
perfect  development  nothing  but  perfect  justice  is  required. 


ON  THE  JEWISH   DISABILITIES  BILL 


447 


To  the  fallacies  of  fanaticism  give  no  heed.  Emancipate  the 
Jew — from  the  statute-book  of  England  be  the  last  remnant 
of  intolerance  erased  forever;  abolish  all  civil  discriminations 
between  the  Christian  and  the  Jew,  fill  his  whole  heart  with 
the  consciousness  of  country.  Do  this,  and  we  dare  be  sworn 
that  he  will  think  and  feel  and  fear  and  hope  as  you  do ; 
his  sorrow  and  his  exultation  will  be  the  same;  at  the  tidings 
of  English  glory  his  heart  will  beat  with  a  kindred  palpitation; 
and  whenever  there  shall  be  need,  in  the  defence  of  his 
sovereign  and  of  his  country,  his  best  blood,  at  your  bidding, 
will  be  poured  out  with  the  same  heroic  prodigality  as  your 
own. 


JAMES  BUCHANAN 


AMES  Buchanan,  fifteenth  President  of  the  United  States,  the  son  of 
an  Irishman  who  had  emigrated  to  this  country  in  1783,  was  born 
in  Franklin  Co.,  Pa.,  April  23,  1791,  and  died  near  Lancaster,  Pa., 
June  1,  1868.  Educated  at  Dickinson  College,  Carlisle,  in  1809,  he 
took  a  course  in  law  and  in  1812  was  admitted  to  the  Bar,  at  which  he  soon 
gained  a  lucrative  practice.  Turning  to  politics  and  having  some  experience  as 
a  legislator  in  the  Pennsylvania  legislature,  he  entered  Congress  in  1821  and 
remained  in  the  House  for  ten  years,  taking  a  useful  part  in  the  councils  of 
the  judiciary  committee,  and  advocating  (1828)  General  Jackson's  election  to  the 
Presidency.  Retiring  from  the  House  in  1831,  Jackson  gave  him  the  minister- 
ship of  the  United  States  at  the  Court  of  Russia,  where  he  secured  a  commer- 
cial treaty  of  advantage  to  this  country.  Returning  to  America  in  1833,  he 
entered  the  Cnited  States  Senate,  and  in  1845  was  appointed  by  Polk  Secretary 
of  State.  In  the  Senate  he  was  a  strong  supporter  of  the  measures  and  acts  of  the 
Democratic  party  and  a  staunch  upholder  of  slavery  and  the  rights  of  the  indi- 
vidual States.  In  Pierce's  administration  he  was  appointed  United  States  minister 
to  England  after  a  brief  period  of  retirement.  He  took  part  in  the  Ostend  Con- 
ference and  sought  to  bring  about  the  acquisition  of  Cuba.  With  Fremont  and 
Fillmore,  he  contested  the  Presidency,  and  in  1857  gained  the  prize,  becoming 
while  in  office  a  partisan  of  the  South,  tolerating  the  secession  from  the  Union  of 
South  Carolina,  which,  with  the  troubles  in  Kansas,  the  John  Brown  raid,  and  the 
agitation  of  the  time  on  the  fugitive  slave  law,  fomented  disruption  and  precipi- 
tated the  Civil  War.  This  ended  his  public  career  in  eclipse,  and  he  withdrew  to 
his  home  in  Pennsylvania  and  died  in  his  seventy-eighth  year.  Buchanan,  though 
a  Northern  man,  who,  during  the  crisis  of  the  Civil  War,  ought  to  have  been 
with  his  own  section  of  the  country,  seems  at  this  period  to  have  fallen  completely 
under  the  influence  of  the  South  and  of  its  chief  leaders.  While  he  deemed  Secession 
illegal,  he  nevertheless  believed  that  a  State  could  not  be  coerced,  and  though 
he  in  his  attitude  toward  slavery  would  not  release  fugitive  slaves,  he  wished  to 
secure  slavery  in  the  states  where  it  existed  as  well  as  in  the  territories. 

INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 

Fellow-Citizens : 

I APPEAR  before  3^011  this  clay  to  take  the  solemn  oath 
''that  I  will  faithfully  execute  the  office  of  President 
of  the  United  States  and  will  to  the  best  of  my  ability 
preserve,  protect,  and  defend  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States." 
(448) 


INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 


449 


In  entering  upon  this  great  office  I  must  humbly  invoke 
the  God  of  our  fathers  for  wisdom  and  firmness  to  execute 
its  high  and  responsible  duties  in  such  a  manner  as  to  re- 
store harmony  and  ancient  friendship  among  the  people  of 
the  several  States,  and  to  preserve  our  free  institutions 
throughout  many  generations.  Convinced  that  I  owe  my 
election  to  the  inherent  love  for  the  Constitution  and  the 
Union  which  still  animates  the  hearts  of  the  American 
people,  let  me  earnestly  ask  their  powerful  support  in  sus- 
taining all  just  measures  calculated  to  perpetuate  these,  the 
richest  politic'al  blessings  which  Heaven  has  ever  bestowed 
upon  any  nation.  Having  determined  not  to  become  a  can- 
didate for  re-election,  I  shall  have  no  motive  to  influence 
my  conduct  in  administering  the  government,  except  the 
desire  ably  and  faithfully  to  serve  my  country  and  to  live  in 
the  grateful  memory  of  my  countrymen. 

We  have  recently  passed  through  a  Presidential  contest 
in  which  the  passions  of  our  fellow-citizens  were  excited  to 
the  highest  degree  by  questions  of  deep  and  vital  impor- 
tance ;  but  when  the  people  proclaimed  their  will  the  tempest 
at  once  subsided  and  all  was  calm. 

The  voice  of  the  majority,  speaking  in  the  manner  pre- 
scribed by  the  Constitution,  was  heard,  and  instant  sub- 
mission followed.  Our  own  country  could  alone  have 
exhibited  so  grand  and  striking  a  spectacle  of  the  capacity  of 
man  for  self-government. 

What  a  happy  conception,  then,  was  it  for  Congress  to 
apply  this  simple  rule,  that  the  will  of  the  majority  shall 
govern,  to  the  settlement  of  the  question  of  domestic 
slavery  in  the  Territories !  Congress  is  neither  '^to  legis- 
late slavery  into  any  Territory  or  State,  nor  to  exclude  it 

therefrom,  but  to  leave  the  people  thereof  perfectly  free  to 
Vol.  5—29 


450 


JAMES  BUCHANAN 


form  and  regulate  their  domestic  institutions  in  their  own 
way,  subject  only  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States." 

As  a  natural  consequence,  Congress  has  also  prescribed 
that  when  the  Territory  of  Kansas  shall  be  admitted  as  a 
State  it  "shall  be  received  into  the  Union  with  or  without 
slavery,  as  their  Constitution  may  prescribe  at  the  time  of 
their  admission.'' 

A  difference  of  opinion  has  arisen  in  regard  to  the  point 
of  time  when  the  people  of  a  Territory  shall  decide  this  ques- 
tion for  themselves. 

This  is,  happily,  a  matter  of  but  little  practical  impor- 
tance. Besides,  it  is  a  judicial  question,  which  legitimately 
belongs  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  before 
whom  it  is  now  pending,  and  will,  it  is  understood,  be 
speedily  and  finally  settled.  To  their  decision,  in  common 
with  all  good  citizens,  I  shall  cheerfully  submit,  whatever 
this  may  be,  though  it  has  ever  been  my  individual  opinion 
that  under  the  I^ebra ska-Kansas  act  the  appropriate  period 
will  be  when  the  number  of  actual  residents  in  the  Territory 
shall  justify  the  formation  of  a  Constitution  with  a  view  to 
its  admission  as  a  State  into  the  Union.  But  be  this  as  it 
may,  it  is  the  imperative  and  indispensable  duty  of  the 
government  of  the  United  States  to  secure  to  every  resident 
inhabitant  the  free  and  independent  expression  of  his  opin- 
ion by  his  vote.  This  sacred  right  of  each  individual  must 
be  preserved.  That  being  accomplished,  nothing  can  be 
fairer  than  to  leave  the  people  of  a  Territory  free  from  all 
foreign  interference,  to  decide  their  own  destiny  for  them- 
selves, subject  only  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States. 

The  whole  Territorial  question  being  settled  upon  the 
principle  of  popular  sovereignty — a  principle  as  ancient  as 


INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 


451 


free  government  itself — everything  of  a  practical  nature  has 
been  decided.  No  other  question  remains  for  adjustment, 
because  all  agree  that  under  the  Constitution  slavery  in  the 
States  is  beyond  any  human  power  except  that  of  the  re- 
spective States  themselves  v^herein  it  exists.  May  we  not, 
then,  hope  that  the  long  agitation  on  this  subject  is  ap- 
proaching its  end,  and  that  the  geographical  parties  to 
which  it  has  given  birth,  so  much  dreaded  by  the  Father 
of  his  Country,  will  speedily  become  extinct?  Most  happy 
will  it  be  for  the  country  when  the  public  mind  shall  be 
diverted  from  this  question  to  others  of  more  pressing  and 
practical  importance.  Throughout  the  whole  progress  of 
this  agitation,  which  has  scarcely  known  any  intermission 
for  more  than  twenty  years,  while  it  has  been  productive 
of  no  positive  good  to  any  human  being,  it  has  been  the 
prolific  source  of  great  evils  to  the  master,  to  the  slave,  and 
to  the  whole  country.  It  has  alienated  and  estranged  the 
people  of  the  sister  States  from  each  other,  and  has  even 
seriously  endangered  the  very  existence  of  the  Union,  ^or 
has  the  danger  yet  entirely  ceased.  Under  our  system  there 
is  a  remedy  for  all  mere  political  evils  in  the  sound  sense 
and  sober  judgment  of  the  people.  Time  is  a  great  correc- 
tive. Political  subjects  which  but  a  few  years  ago  excited 
and  exasperated  the  public  mind  have  passed  away  and 
are  now  entirely  forgotten.  But  this  question  of  domestic 
slavery  is  of  far  graver  importance  than  any  mere  political 
question,  because,  should  the  agitation  continue,  it  may 
eventually  endanger  the  personal  safety  of  a  large  portion 
of  our  countrymen  where  the  institution  exists.  In  that 
event  no  form  of  government,  however  admirable  in  itself, 
and  however  productive  of  material  benefits,  can  compen- 
sate for  the  loss  of  peace  and  domestic  securit;^  around  the 


452 


JAMES  BUCHANAN 


family  altar.  Let  every  Union-loving  man,  therefore,  exert 
his  best  influence  to  suppress  this  agitation,  which,  since 
the  recent  legislation  of  Congress,  is  without  any  legitimate 
object. 

It  is  an  evil  omen  of  the  times  that  men  have  undertaken 
to  calculate  the  mere  material  value  of  the  Union.  Reasoned 
estimates  have  been  presented  of  the  pecuniarv  profits  and 
local  advantages  which  would  result  to  the  different  States 
and  sections  from  its  dissolution,  and  of  the  comparative 
injuries  which  such  an  event  would  inflict  on  other  States 
and  sections.  Even  descending  to  this  low  and  narrow  view 
of  the  mighty  question,  all  such  calculations  are  at  fault. 
The  bare  reference  to  a  single  consideration  will  be  con- 
clusive on  this  point.  We  at  present  enjoy  a  free  trade 
throughout  our  extensive  and  expanding  country  such  as 
the  world  has  never  witnessed.  This  trade  is  conducted  on 
railroads  and  canals,  on  noble  rivers  and  arms  of  the  sea, 
which  bind  together  the  i^orth  and  South,  the  East  and 
West,  of  our  confederacy.  Annihilate  this  trade,  arrest  its 
free  progress  by  the  geographical  lines  of  jealous  and  hostile 
States,  and  you  destroy  the  prosperity  and  onward  march 
of  the  whole  and  every  part,  and  involve  all  in  a  common 
ruin.  But  such  considerations,  important  as  they  are  in 
themselves,  sink  into  insignificance  when  we  reflect  upon 
the  terrifie  evils  which  would  result  from  disunion  to  every 
portion  of  the  confederacy — to  the  ^N'orth  not  more  than  to 
the  South,  to  the  East  not  more  than  to  the  West.  These 
I  shall  not  attempt  to  portray,  because  I  feel  a  humble  con- 
fidence that  the  kind  Providence  which  inspired  our  fathers 
with  wisdom  to  frame  the  most  perfect  form  of  government 
and  union  ever  devised  by  man,  will  not  suffer  it  to  perish 
until  it  shall  have  been  peacefully  instrumental,  b;^  its 


INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 


453 


example,  in  the  extension  of  civil  and  religious  liberty 
throughout  the  world. 

^^ext  in  importance  to  the  maintenance  of  the  Constitu- 
tion and  the  Union,  is  the  duty  of  preserving  the  govern- 
ment free  from  the  taint  or  even  the  suspicion  of  corruption. 
Public  virtue  is  the  vital  spirit  of  republics,  and  history 
proves  that  v^^hen  this  has  decayed  and  the  love  of  money 
has  usurped  its  place,  although  the  forms  of  free  govern- 
ment may  remain  for  a  season,  the  substance  has  departed 
forever. 

Our  present  financial  condition  is  without  parallel  in 
history.  'No  nation  has  ever  before  been  embarrassed  from 
too  large  a  surplus  in  its  treasury.  This  almost  necessarily 
gives  birth  to  extravagant  legislation.  It  produces  wild 
schemes  of  expenditure,  and  begets  a  race  of  speculators 
and  jobbers,  whose  ingenuity  is  exerted  in  contriving  and 
promoting  expedients  to  obtain  public  money.  The  purity 
of  official  agents,  whether  rightfully  or  wrongfully,  is  sus- 
pected, and  the  character  of  the  government  suffers  in  the 
estimation  of  the  people.  This  is  in  itself  a  very  great 
evil. 

The  natural  mode  of  relief  from  this  embarrassment  is 
to  appropriate  the  surplus  in  the  Treasury  to  great  national 
objects  for  which  a  clear  warrant  can  be  found  in  the  Con- 
stitution. Among  these  I  might  mention  the  extinguish- 
ment of  the  public  debt,  a  reasonable  increase  of  the  navy, 
which  is  at  present  inadequate  to  the  protection  of  our  vast 
tonnage  afloat,  now  greater  than  any  other  nation,  as  well  as 
the  defense  of  our  extended  seacoast. 

It  is  beyond  all  question  the  true  principle  that  no  more 
revenue  ought  to  be  collected  from  the  people  than  the 
amount  necessary  to  defray  the  expense  of  a  wise,  econom- 


454 


JAMES  BUCHANAN 


ical,  and  efficient  administration  of  the  government.  To 
reach  this  point  it  was  necessary  to  resort  to  a  modification 
of  the  tariff,  and  this  has,  I  trust,  been  accomplished  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  do  as  little  injury  as  may  have  been 
practicable  to  our  domestic  manufactures,  especially  those 
necessary  for  the  defence  of  the  country.  Any  discrimina- 
tion against  a  particular  branch  for  the  purpose  of  benefit- 
ing favored  corporations,  individuals,  or  interests,  would 
have  been  un,just  to  the  rest  of  the  community  and  incon- 
sistent with  that  spirit  of  fairness  and  equality  which  ought 
to  govern  in  the  adjustment  of  a  revenue  tariff. 

But  the  squandering  of  the  public  money  sinks  into  com- 
parative insignificance  as  a  temptation  to  corruption  when 
compared  with  the  squandering  of  the  public  lands. 

]^o  nation  in  the  tide  of  time  has  ever  been  blessed  with 
so  rich  and  noble  an  inheritance  as  we  enjoy  in  the  public 
lands.  In  administering  this  important  trust,  while  it  may 
be  wise  to  grant  portions  of  them  for  the  improvement  of 
the  remainder,  yet  we  should  never  forget  that  it  is  our 
cardinal  policy  to  reserve  these  lands,  as  much  as  may  be, 
for  actual  settlers,  and  this  at  moderate  prices.  We 
shall  thus  not  only  best  promote  the  prosperity  of  the  new 
States  and  Territories,  by  furnishing  them  a  hardy  and 
independent  race  of  honest  and  industrious  citizens,  but 
shall  secure  homes  for  our  children  and  our  children's  chil- 
dren, as  well  as  for  those  exiles  from  foreign  shores  who 
may  seek  in  this  country  to  improve  their  condition  and  to 
enjoy  the  blessings  of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  Such 
immigrants  have  done  much  to  promote  the  growth  and 
prosperity  of  the  country.  They  have  proved  faithful  both 
in  peace  and  in  war.  After  becoming  citizens  they  are  en- 
titled, under  the  Constitution  and  laws,  to  be  placed  on 


INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 


455 


a  perfect  equality  with  native-born  citizens,  and  in  this  char- 
acter they  should  ever  be  kindly  recognized. 

The  Federal  Constitution  is  a  grant  from  the  States 
to  Congress  of  certain  specific  powers,  and  the  question 
whether  this  grant  should  be  liberally  or  strictly  construed 
has  more  or  less  divided  political  parties  from  the  begin- 
ning. Without  entering  into  the  argument,  I  desire  to 
state  at  the  commencement  of  my  administration  that  long 
experience  and  observation  have  convinced  me  that  a  strict 
construction  of  the  powers  of  the  government  is  the  only, 
true,  as  well  as  the  only  safe,  theory  of  the  Constitution. 
Whenever  in  our  past  history  doubtful  powers  have  been 
exercised  by  Congress,  these  have  never  failed  to  produce 
injurious  anl  unhappy  consequences.  Many  such  instances 
might  be  adduced  if  this  were  the  proper  occasion.  ISTeither 
is  it  necessary  for  the  public  service  to  strain  the  language 
of  the  Constitution,  because  all  the  great  and  useful  powers 
required  for  a  successful  administration  of  the  government, 
both  in  peace  and  in  war,  have  been  granted,  either  in  ex- 
press terms  or  by  the  plainest  implication. 

While  deeply  convinced  of  these  truths,  I  yet  consider 
it  clear  that  under  the  war-making  power  Congress  may 
appropriate  money  toward  the  construction  of  a  military 
road  when  this  is  absolutely  necessary  for  the  defence  of 
any  State  or  Territory  of  the  Union  against  foreign  inva- 
sion. Under  the  Constitution  Congress  has  powder  "to  de- 
clare war,"  "to  raise  and  support  armies,''  "to  provide  and 
maintain  a  navy,"  and  to  call  forth  the  militia  to  "repel  in- 
vasions." Thus  endowed,  in  an  ample  manner,  with  the 
Avar-making  power,  the  corresponding  duty  is  required  that 
"the  United  States  shall  protect  each  of  them  [the  States] 
against  invasion."    I^ow,  how  is  it  possible  to  afford  this 


456 


JAMES  BUCHANAN 


protection  to  California  and  our  Pacific  possessions,  except 
by  means  of  a  military  road  through  the  territories  of  the 
United  States,  over  which  men  and  munitions  of  war  may 
be  speedily  transported  from  the  Atlantic  States  to  meet 
and  to  repel  the  invader  ?  In  the  event  of  a  war  with  a  naval 
power  much  stronger  than  our  own,  we  should  then  have  no 
other  available  access  to  the  Pacific  coast,  because  such  a 
23ower  would  instantly  close  the  route  across  the  isthmus  of 
Central  America.  It  is  impossible  to  conceive  that  while 
the  Constitution  has  expressly  required  Congress  to  defend 
all  the  States,  it  should  yet  deny  to  them,  by  any  fair  con- 
struction, the  only  possible  means  by  which  one  of  these 
States  can  be  defended.  Besides,  the  government,  ever 
since  its  origin,  has  been  in  the  constant  practice  of  con- 
structing military  roads.  It  might  also  be  wise  to  consider 
whether  the  love  for  the  Union  which  now  animates  our 
fellow-citizens  on  the  Pacific  coast  may  not  be  impaired  by 
our  neglect  or  refusal  to  provide  for  them,  in  their  remote 
and  isolated  condition,  the  only  means  by  which  the  power 
of  the  States  on  this  side  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  can  reach 
them  in  sufficient  time  to  ^^protect"  them  ^'against  inva- 
sion.'' I  forbear  for  the  present  from  expressing  an  opinion 
as  to  the  wisest  and  most  economical  mode  in  which  the 
government  can  lend  its  aid  in  accomplishing  this  great  and 
necessary  work.  I  believe  that  many  of  the  difficulties  in 
the  way,  which  now  appear  formidable,  will  in  a  great  de- 
gree vanish  as  soon  as  the  nearest  and  best  route  shall  have 
been  satisfactorily  ascertained. 

It  may  be  proper  that  on  this  occasion  I  should  make 
some  brief  remark  in  regard  to  our  rights  and  duties  as  a 
member  of  the  great  family  of  nations.  In  our  intercourse 
with  them  there  are  some  plain  principles,  approved  by  our 


INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 


457 


own  experience,  from  which  we  should  never  depart.  We 
ought  to  cultivate  peace,  commerce,  and  friendship  with  all 
nations,  and  this  not  merely  as  the  best  means  of  promoting 
our  own  material  interests,  but  in  a  spirit  of  Christian  be- 
nevolence toward  our  fellow-men,  wherever  their  lot  may 
be  cast.  Our  diplomacy  should  be  direct  and  frank,  neither 
seeking  to  obtain  more  nor  accepting  less  than  is  due.  We 
ought  to  cherish  a  sacred  regard  for  the  independence  of 
all  nations,  and  never  attempt  to  interfere  in  the  domestic 
concerns  of  any  unless  this  shall  be  imperatively  required 
by  the  great  law  of  self-preservation.  To  avoid  entangling 
alliances  has  been  a  maxim  of  our  policy  ever  since  the  days 
of  Washington,  and  its  wisdom  no  one  will  attempt  to  dis- 
pute. In  short,  we  ought  to  do  justice  in  a  kindly  spirit  to 
all  nations,  and  require  justice  from  them  in  return. 

It  is  our  glory  that  while  other  nations  have  extended 
their  dominions  by  the  sword,  w^e  have  never  acquired  any 
territory  except  by  fair  purchase  or,  in  the  case  of  Texas, 
by  the  voluntary  determination  of  a  brave,  kindred,  and 
independent  people  to  blend  their  destinies  with  our  own. 
Even  our  acquisitions  from  Mexico  form  no  exception. 
Unwilling  to  take  advantage  of  the  fortune  of  war  against 
a  sister  republic,  we  purchased  these  possessions  under  the 
treaty  of  peace  for  a  sum  which  was  considered  at  the  time 
a  fair  equivalent.  Our  past  history  forbids  that  we  shall  in 
the  future  acquire  territory  unless  this  be  sanctioned  by  the 
laws  of  justice  and  honor.  Acting  on  this  principle,  no 
nation  will  have  a  right  to  interfere  or  to  complain  if,  in 
the  progress  of  events,  we  shall  still  further  extend  our 
possessions.  Hitherto  in  all  our  acquisitions  the  people, 
under  the  protection  of  the  American  flag,  have  enjoyed 
civil  and  religious  liberty  as  well  as  equal  and  just  laws. 


458 


JAMES  BUCHANAN 


and  have  been  contented,  prosperous,  and  happy.  Their 

trade  with  the  rest  of  the  world  has  rapidly  increased,  and 

thus  every  commercial  nation  has  shared  largely  in  their 

successful  progress. 

I  shall  now  proceed  to  take  the  oath  prescribed  by  the 

Constitution,  while  humbly  invoking  the  blessing  of  Divine 

Providence  on  this  great  people. 
March  4,  1857. 


ROBERT  YOUNG  HAYNE 


OBERT  Young  Hayne,  American  politician  and  orator,  prominent  as  the 
leader  of  the  South  Carolina  "  iJullifiers, "  was  born  in  Colleton  District, 
S.  C,  Nov.  10,  1791,  and  died  at  Asheville,  N.  C,  Sept.  24,  1839. 
Choosing  law  as  a  profession,  he  studied  for  it,  and  in  1812  was  admitted 
to  the  Bar,  after  which  for  a  time  he  served  in  one  of  the  State  regiments  during  the 
War  of  1812.  He  then  entered  the  State  legislature,  became  Speaker  of  the  House, 
and  in  1822  was  appointed  Attorney-General  of  South  Carolina.  From  1823  to  1832 
he  was  a  member  of  the  United  States  Senate,  where  he  opposed  a  protective  tariff, 
4eclaring  such  unconstitutional;  and  in  1830  he  crossed  swords  with  Daniel  Webster  in 
X  famous  debate  on  Senator  Foote  of  Connecticut's  resolution,  a  debate  which  led  Hayne 
practically  to  affirm  the  constitutional  right  of  secession  on  the  part  of  any  individual 
State  —  an  argument  which  Webster  trenchantly  demolished,  while  at  the  same  time 
demonstrating  the  true  "national"  theory  of  the  government.  Hayne's  attitude  on 
this  vital  subject  was  further  shown,  when  as  chairman  of  a  committee  in  the  South 
Carolina  State  convention,  in  1832,  that  body  adopted  an  "ordinance  of  nullification." 
In  the  same  year  he  was  elected  governor  of  his  State.  The  gravity  of  the  position 
taken  by  South  Carolina  in  regard  to  nullification  elicited  an  answer  from  President 
Jackson,  to  which  Governor  Hayne  made  a  defiant  rejoinder  and  threatened  resistance 
to  Federal  authority.  Clay's  compromise  measure,  however,  averted  trouble  for  the 
time  and  the  ordinance  was  repealed  by  South  Carolina  in  a  subsequent  convention. 
See  Hayne's  "  Life  and  Speeches,"  issued  in  1845. 

ON  FOOTE'S  RESOLUTION^ 

DELIVERED  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  SENATE.  JANUARY  21,  18302 

MR.  President, — When  I  took  occasion,  two  days  ago, 
to  throw  out  some  ideas  with  respect  to  the  policy 
of  the  government  in  relation  to  the  public  lands, 
nothing  certainly  could  have  been  further  from  my  thoughts 
than  that  I  should  have  been  compelled  again  to  throw  myself 

1  The  following  is  the  resolution  of  Mr.  Foote:  "  Resolved  that  the  Committee  on 
Public  Lands  be  instructed  to  inquire  and  report  the  quantity  of  the  public  lands  re- 
maining unsold  within  each  State  and  Territory,  and  whether  it  be  expedient  to  limit, 
for  a  certain  period,  the  sales  of  the  public  lands  to  such  lands  only  as  have  heretofore 
been  offered  for  sale,  and  are  now  subject  to  entry  at  the  minimum  price.  And,  also, 
whether  the  office  of  surveyor-general,  and  some  of  the  land  offices,  may  not  be  abol- 
ished without  detriment  to  the  public  interest ;  or  whether  it  be  expedient  to  adopt 
measures  to  hasten  the  sales  and  extend  more  rapidly  the  surveys  of  the  public  lands." 

2  See  Mr.  Webster's  answer  to  this  speech  at  page  171  ante. 

(459) 


460 


ROBERT  YOUNG  HAYNE 


upon  the  indulgence  of  the  Senate.  Little  did  I  expect  to  be 
called  upon  to  meet  such  an  argument  as  was  yesterday  urged 
by  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  [Mr.  Webster]. 

Sir,  I  questioned  no  man's  opinions ;  I  impeached  no  man's 
motives ;  I  charged  no  party  or  State  or  section  of  country 
with  hostility  to  any  other,  but  ventured,  as  I  thought  in  a 
becoming  spirit,  to  put  forth  my  own  sentiments  in  relation 
to  a  great  national  question  of  public  policy. 

Such  was  my  course.  The  gentleman  from  Missouri  [Mr. 
Benton],  it  is  true,  had  charged  upon  the  Eastern  States  an 
early  and  continued  hostility  toward  the  West,  and  referred 
to  a  number  of  historical  facts  and  documents  in  support  of 
that  charge.  'Now,  sir,  how  have  these  different  arguments 
been  met?  The  honorable  gentleman  from  Massachusetts, 
after  deliberating  a  whole  night  upon  his  course,  comes  into 
this  chamber  to  vindicate  I^ew  England,  and  instead  of  mak- 
ing up  his  issue  with  the  gentleman  from  Missouri  on  the 
charges  which  he  had  preferred,  chooses  to  consider  me  as 
the  author  of  those  charges,  and,  losing  sight  entirely  of  that 
gentleman,  selects  me  as  his  adversary  and  pours  out  all  the 
vials  of  his  mighty  wrath  upon  my  devoted  head.  Not  is 
he  willing  to  stop  there. 

He  goes  on  to  assail  the  institutions  and  policy  of  the 
South,  and  calls  in  question  the  principles  and  conduct  of 
the  State  which  I  have  the  honor  to  represent.  When  I  find 
a  gentleman  of  mature  age  and  experience,  of  acknowledged 
talents  and  profound  sagacity,  pursuing  a  course  like  this, 
declining  the  contest  olfered  from  the  West,  and  making  war 
upon  the  unoffending  South,  I  must  believe,  I  am  bound  to 
believe,  he  has  some  object  in  view  which  he  has  not  ventured 
to  disclose. 

Mr.  President,  why  is  this  ?    Has  the  gentleman  discovered 


ON   FOOTE'8  resolution 


461 


in  former  controversies  with  the  gentleman  from  Missouri 
that  he  is  overmatched  by  that  senator?  And  does  he  hope 
for  an  easy  victory  over  a  more  feeble  adversary?  Has  the 
gentleman's  distempered  fancy  been  disturbed  by  gloomy  fore- 
bodings of  new  alliances  to  be  formed  "  at  which  he  hinted? 
Has  the  ghost  of  the  murdered  Coalition  come  back,  like  the 
ghost  of  Banquo,  to  ^'  sear  the  eyeballs  of  the  gentleman/' 
and  will  it  not  "  down  at  his  bidding?  "  Are  dark  visions  of 
broken  hopes,  and  honors  lost  forever,  still  floating  before  his 
heated  imagination?  Sir,  if  it  be  his  object  to  thrust  me  be- 
tween the  gentleman  from  Missouri  and  himself,  in  order  to 
rescue  the  East  from  the  contest  it  has  provoked  with  the 
West,  he  shall  not  be  gratified.  Sir,  I  will  not  be  dragged 
into  the  defence  of  my  friend  from  Missouri.  The  South 
shall  not  be  forced  into  a  conflict  not  its  own.  The  gentle- 
man from  Missouri  is  able  to  fight  his  own  battles.  The  gal- 
lant West  needs  no  aid  from  the  South  to  repel  any  attack 
which  may  be  made  on  them  from  any  quarter.  Let  the  gen- 
tleman from  Massachusetts  controvert  the  facts  and  argu- 
ments of  the  gentleman  from  Missouri  if  he  can,  and  if  he 
win  the  victory  let  him  wear  the  honors ;  I  shall  not  deprive 
him  of  his  laurels. 

The  gentleman  from  Massachusetts,  in  reply  to  my  remarks 
on  the  injurious  operations  of  our  land  system  on  the  pros- 
perity of  the  West,  pronounced  an  extravagant  eulogium  on 
the  paternal  care  which  the  government  had  extended  toward 
the  West,  to  which  he  attributed  all  that  was  great  and  ex- 
cellent in  the  present  condition  of  the  new  States. 

The  language  of  the  gentleman  on  this  topic  fell  upon  my 
ears  like  the  almost  forgotten  tones  of  the  Tory  leaders  of  the 
British  Parliament  at  the  commencement  of  the  American 
revolution.    They,  too,  discovered    that  the  colonies  had 


462 


ROBERT  YOUNG  HAYNE 


grown  great  under  the  fostering  care  of  the  mother  country; 
and  I  must  confess,  while  listening  to  the  gentleman,  I 
thought  the  appropriate  reply  to  his  argument  was  to  be 
found  in  the  remark  of  a  celebrated  orator  made  on  that  oc- 
casion: "  They  have  grown  great  in  spite  of  your  protection." 

The  gentleman,  in  commenting  on  the  policy  of  the  govern- 
ment in  relation  to  the  new  States,  has  introduced  to  our 
notice  a  certain  Nathan  Dane,  of  Massachusetts,  to  whom  he 
attributes  the  celebrated  Ordinance  of  1787, by  which, he  tells 
us,  "  slavery  was  forever  excluded  from  the  new  States  north 
of  the  Ohio."  After  eulogizing  the  wisdom  of  this  provision 
in  terms  of  the  most  extravagant  praise  he  breaks  forth  in 
admiration  of  the  greatness  of  Nathan  Dane — and  great  in- 
deed he  must  be  if  it  be  true,  as  stated  by  the  senator  from 
Massachusetts,  that  "  he  was  greater  than  Solon  and  Lycurgus, 
Minos,  Numa  Pompilius,  and  all  the  legislators  and  philoso- 
phers of  the  world,"  ancient  and  modern. 

Sir,  to  such  high  authority  it  is  certainly  my  duty,  in  a 
becoming  spirit  of  humility,  to  submit.  And  yet  the  gentle- 
man will  pardon  me  when  I  say  that  it  is  a  little  unfortunate 
for  the  fame  of  this  great  legislator  that  the  gentleman  from 
Missouri  should  have  proved  that  he  was  not  the  author  of 
the  Ordinance  of  1787,  on  which  the  senator  from  Massachu- 
setts has  reared  so  glorious  a  monument  to  his  name. 

Sir,  I  doubt  not  the  senator  will  feel  some  compassion  for 
our  ignorance  when  I  tell  him  that,  so  little  are  we  acquainted 
with  the  modern  great  men  of  jSTew  England,  that  until  he 
informed  us  yesterday  that  we  possessed  a  Solon  and  a  Lycur- 
gus in  the  person  of  Nathan  Dane  he  was  only  known  to  the 
South  as  a  member  of  a  celebrated  assembly  called  and  known 
by  the  name  of  "  the  Hartford  Convention."  In  the  proceed- 
ings of  that  assembly,  which  I  hold  in  my  hand  (at  page  19), 


ON  foote's  resolution 


463 


will  be  found,  in  a  few  lines,  the  history  of  ISTathan  Dane; 
and  a  little  farther  on  there  is  conclusive  evidence  of  that 
ardent  devotion  to  the  interests  of  the  new  States  which  it 
seems  has  given  him  a  just  claim  to  the  title  of  "  Father  of 
the  West."  By  the  second  resolution  of  the  Hartford  Con- 
vention it  is  declared  that  it  is  expedient  to  attempt  to  make 
provision  for  restraining  Congress  in  the  exercise  of  an  un- 
limited power  to  make  new  States  and  admitting  them  to  the 
Union."  So  much  for  i^athan  Dane,  of  Beverly,  Massachu- 
setts. 

In  commenting  upon  my  views  in  relation  to  the  public 
lands  the  gentleman  insists  that,  it  being  one  of  the  conditions 
of  the  grants  that  these  lands  should  be  applied  to  "  the  com- 
mon benefit  of  all  the  States,  they  must  always  remain  a  fund 
for  revenue;  "  and  adds,  they  must  be  treated  as  so  much 
treasure." 

Sir,  the  gentleman  could  hardly  find  language  strong 
enough  to  convey  his  disapprobation  of  the  policy  which  I  had 
ventured  to  recommend  to  the  favorable  consideration  of  the 
country.  And  what,  sir,  was  that  policy,  and  what  is  the 
difference  between  that  gentleman  and  myself  on  this  subject? 

I  threw  out  the  idea  that  the  public  lands  ought  not  to  be 
reserved  forever  as  a  great  fund  of  revenue ;  "  that  they 
ought  not  to  be  "  treated  as  a  great  treasure ;  "  but,  that  the 
course  of  our  policy  should  rather  be  directed  toward  the 
creation  of  new  States  and  building  up  great  and  flourishing 
communities. 

Now,  sir,  will  it  be  believed  by  those  who  now  hear  me, 
and  who  listened  to  the  gentleman^s  denunciation  of  my  doc- 
trines yesterday,  that  a' book  then  lay  open  before  him — nay, 
that  he  held  it  in  his  hand  and  read  from  it  certain  passages 
of  his  own  speech  delivered  to  the  House  of  Kepresentatives 


464 


ROBERT  YOUNG  HAYNE 


in  1825,  in  which  speech  he  himself  contended  for  the  very 
doctrines  I  had  advocated  and  almost  in  the  same  terms. 
Here  is  the  speech  of  the  Hon.  Daniel  Webster,  contained  in 
the  first  volume  of  Gales  &  Seaton's  "  Kegister  of  Debates 
(p.  251),  delivered  in  the  House  of  Representatives  on  the 
18th  of  January,  1825,  in  a  debate  on  the  Cumberland  Road 
— the  very  debate  from  which  the  senator  read  yesterday. 

I  shall  read  from  the  celebrated  speech  two  passages,  from 
which  it  will  appear  that  both  as  to  the  past  and  the  future 
policy  of  the  government  in  relation  to  the  public  lands  the 
gentleman  from  Massachusetts  maintained  in  1825  substan- 
tially the  same  opinions  which  I  have  advanced,  but  which  he 
now  so  strongly  reprobates.  I  said,  sir,  that  the  system  of 
credit  sales  by  which  the  West  had  been  kept  constantly  in 
debt  to  the  United  States,  and  by  which  their  wealth  was 
drained  off  to  be  expended  elsewhere,  had  operated  injuriously 
on  their  prosperity.  On  this  point  the  gentleman  from  Mas- 
sachusetts, in  January,  1825,  expressed  himself  thus: 

"  There  could  be  no  doubt  if  gentlemen  looked  at  the 
money  received  into  the  treasury  from  the  sale  of  the  public 
lands  to  the  West,  and  then  looked  to  the  whole  amount  ex- 
pended by  the  government  (even  including  the  whole  amount 
of  what  was  laid  out  for  the  army)  the  latter  must  be  allowed 
to  be  very  inconsiderable,  and  there  must  be  a  constant  drain 
of  money  from  the  West  to  pay  for  the  public  lands.  It  might 
indeed  be  said  that  this  was  no  more  than  the  refluence  of 
capital  which  had  previously  gone  over  the  mountains.  Be 
it  so.  Still  its  practical  effect  was  to  produce  inconvenience, 
if  not  distress,  by  absorbing  the  money  of  the  people." 

I  contended  that  the  public  lands  ought  not  to  be  treated 
merely  as  "  a  fund  for  revenue,"  that  they  ought  not  to  be 
hoarded  "  as  a  great  treasure." 

On  this  point  the  senator  expressed  himself  thus: 


ON  foote's  resolution 


405 


Government,  he  believed,  had  received  eighteen  or  twenty 
millions  of  dollars  from  the  public  lands,  and  it  was  with  the 
greatest  satisfaction  he  adverted  to  the  change  which  had  been 
introduced  in  the  mode  of  paying  for  them ;  yet  he  could  never 
think  the  national  domain  was  to  be  regarded  as  any  great 
source  of  revenue.  The  great  object  of  the  government  in 
respect  of  these  lands  was  not  so  much  the  money  derived 
from  their  sale  as  it  was  the  getting  them  settled.  What 
he  meant  to  say  was,  he  did  not  think  they  ought  to  hug  that 
domain  as  a  great  treasure  which  was  to  enrich  the 
exchequer." 

E'ow,  Mr.  President,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  very  doctrines 
which  the  gentleman  so  indignantly  abandons  were  urged 
by  him  in  1825;  and  if  I  had  actually  borrowed  my  senti- 
ments from  those  which  he  then  avowed  I  could  not  have  fol- 
lowed more  closely  in  his  footsteps.  Sir,  it  is  only  since  the 
gentleman  quoted  this  book  yesterday  that  my  attention  has 
been  turned  to  the  sentiments  he  expressed  in  1825,  and,  if 
I  had  remembered  them,  I  might  possibly  have  been  deterred 
from  uttering  sentiments  here  which  it  might  well  be  sup- 
posed I  had  borrowed  from  that  gentleman. 

In  1825  the  gentleman  told  the  world  that  the  public  lands 
"  ought  not  to  be  treated  as  a  treasure."  He  now  tells  us 
that  "  they  must  be  treated  as  so  much  treasure." 

What  the  deliberate  opinion  of  the  gentleman  on  this  sub- 
ject may  be  belongs  not  to  me  to  determine;  but  I  do  not 
think  he  can,  with  the  shadow  of  justice  or  propriety,  impugn 
my  sentiments  while  his  own  recorded  opinions  are  identical 
with  my  own.  When  the  gentleman  refers  to  the  conditions 
of  the  grants  under  which  the  United  States  have  acquired 
these  lands,  and  insists  that,  as  they  are  declared  to  be  "  for 
the  common  benefit  of  all  the  States,"  they  can  only  be 
treated  as  so  much  treasure,  I  think  he  has  applied  a  rule  of 
construction  too  narrow  for  the  case.    If  in  the  deeds  of 

Vol.  6—30 


466 


EGBERT  YOUNG  HAYNE 


cession  it  has  been  declared  that  the  grants  were  intended 
for  "  the  common  benefit  of  all  the  States,"  it  is  clear  from 
other  provisions  that  thej  were  not  intended  merely  as  so 
much  property;  for  it  is  expressly  declared  that  the  object  of 
the  grants  is  the  erection  of  new  States ;  and  the  United  States, 
in  accepting  this  trust,  bind  themselves  to  f aciliate  the  founda- 
tion of  these  States  to  be  admitted  into  the  Union  with  all 
the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  original  States. 

This,  sir,  was  the  great  end  to  which  all  parties  looked, 
and  it  is  by  the  fulfillment  of  this  high  trust  that  "  the  com- 
mon benefit  of  all  the  States  "  is  to  be  best  promoted.  Sir, 
let  me  tell  the  gentleman  that  in  the  part  of  the  country  in 
which  I  live  we  do  not  measure  political  benefits  by  the  money 
standard.  We  consider  as  more  valuable  than  gold — liberty, 
principle,  and  justice.  But,  sir,  if  we  are  bound  to  act  on  the 
narrow  principles  contended  for  by  the  gentleman,  I  am 
wholly  at  a  loss  to  conceive  how  he  can  reconcile  his  principles 
with  his  own  practice.  The  lands  are,  it  seems,  to  be  treated 
"  as  so  much  treasure,"  and  must  be  applied  to  the  "  common 
benefit  of  all  the  States." 

Now,  if  this  be  so,  whence  does  he  derive  the  right  to 
appropriate  them  for  partial  and  local  objects?  How  can  the 
gentleman  consent  to  vote  away  immense  bodies  of  these  lands 
for  canals  in  Indiana  and  Illinois,  to  the  Louisville  and 
Portland  canal,  to  Kenyon  College  in  Ohio,  to  schools 
for  the  deaf  and  dumb,  and  other  objects  of  a  similar  de- 
scription ? 

If  grants  of  this  character  can  fairly  be  considered  as  made 
for  the  common  benefit  of  all  the  States,"  it  can  only  be 
because  all  the  States  are  interested  in  the  welfare  of  each — 
a  principle  which,  carried  to  the  full  extent,  destroys  all  dis- 
tinction between  local  and  national  objects,  and  is  certainly 


ON  foote'^s  resolution 


467 


broad  enough  to  embrace  the  principles  for  which  I  have 
ventured  to  contend. 

Sir,  the  true  difference  betv^een  us  I  take  to  be  this:  the 
gentleman  wishes  to  treat  the  public  lands  as  a  great  treasure, 
just  as  so  much  money  in  the  treasury,  to  be  applied  to  all 
objects,  constitutional  and  unconstitutional,  to  which  the 
public  money  is  constantly  applied.  I  consider  it  as  a  sacred 
trust,  w^hich  we  ought  to  fulfil,  on  the  principles  for  which 
I  have  contended. 

The  senator  from  Massachusetts  has  thought  proper  to 
present  in  strong  contrast  the  friendly  feelings  of  the  East 
towards  the  West,  with  sentiments  of  an  opposite  character 
displayed  by  the  South  in  relation  to  appropriations  for  in- 
ternal improvements.  Kow^,  sir,  let  it  be  recollected  that 
the  South  have  made  no  professions;  I  have  certainly  made 
none  in  their  behalf  of  regard  for  the  West.  It  has  been 
reserved  for  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts,  while  he 
vaunts  over  his  own  personal  devotion  to  Western  interests, 
to  claim  for  the  entire  section  of  country  to  which  he  belongs 
an  ardent  friendship  for  the  West  as  manifested  by  their 
support  of  the  system  of  internal  improvement,  while  he 
casts  in  our  teeth  the  reproach  that  the  South  has  manifested 
hostility  to  Western  interests  in  opposing  appropriations  for 
such  objects.  That  gentleman  at  the  same  time  acknowl- 
edged that  the  South  entertains  constitutional  scruples  on  this 
subject. 

Are  we  then,  sir,  to  understand  that  the  gentleman  con- 
siders it  a  just  subject  of  reproach  that  we  respect  our  oaths 
by  which  we  are  bound  "  to  preserve,  protect,  and  defend 
the  constitution  of  the  United  States?"  Would  the  gentle- 
man have  us  manifest  our  love  to  the  West  by  trampling 
under  foot  our  constitutional  scruples?    Does  he  not  per- 


468 


ROBERT  YOUNG  HAYNE 


ceive,  if  the  South  is  to  be  reproached  with  unkindness  to  the 
West  in  voting  against  appropriations  which  the  gentleman 
admits  they  could  not  vote  for  without  doing  violence  to 
their  constitutional  opinions,  that  he  exposes  himself  to  the 
question  whether,  if  he  was  in  our  situation,  he  could  not 
vote  for  these  appropriations  regardless  of  his  scruples? 

No,  sir,  I  will  not  do  the  gentleman  so  great  injustice. 
He  has  fallen  into  this  error  from  not  having  duly  weighed 
the  force  and  effect  of  the  reproach  which  he  was  endeavor- 
ing to  cast  upon  the  South.  In  relation  to  the  other  point, 
the  friendship  manifested  by  New  England  towards  the  West 
in  their  support  of  the  system  of  internal  improvement,  the 
gentleman  will  pardon  me  for  saying  that  I  think  he  is 
equally  unfortunate  in  having  introduced  that  topic. 

As  that  gentleman  has  forced  it  upon  us,  however,  I  cannot 
suffer  it  to  pass  unnoticed.  When  the  gentleman  tells  us 
that  the  appropriations  for  internal  improvement  in  the  West 
would  in  almost  every  instance  have  failed  but  for  New  Eng- 
land votes,  he  has  forgotten  to  tell  us  the  when,  the  how,  and 
the  wherefore  this  new-born  zeal  for  the  West  sprang  up  in 
the  bosom  of  New  England. 

If  we  look  back  only  a  few  years  we  will  find  in  both 
Houses  of  Congress  a  uniform  and  steady  opposition  on  the 
part  of  the  members  from  the  eastern  States  generally  to  all 
appropriations  of  this  character.  At  the  time  I  became  a 
member  of  this  House,  and  for  some  time  afterward,  a  de- 
cided majority  of  the  New  England  senators  were  opposed 
to  the  very  measures  which  the  senator  from  Massachusetts 
tells  us  they  now  cordially  support.  Sir,  the  journals  are 
before  me,  and  an  examination  of  them  will  satisfy  every 
gentleman  of  that  fact. 

It  must  be  well  known  to  every  one  whose  experience  dates 


ON  foote's  resolution 


469 


back  as  far  as  1825  that  up  to  a  certain  period  New  England 
was  generally  opposed  to  appropriations  for  internal  improve- 
ments in  the  West.  The  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  may 
be  himself  an  exception,  but  if  he  went  for  the  system  before 
1825  it  is  certain  that  his  colleagues  did  not  go  with  him. 
In  the  session  of  1824  and  1825,  however  (a  memorable  era  in 
the  history  of  this  country),  a  wonderful  change  took  place 
in  IsTew  England  in  relation  to  Western  interests. 

Sir,  an  extraordinary  union  of  sympathies  and  of  interests 
was  then  effected  which  brought  the  East  and  the  West  into 
close  alliance.  The  book  from  which  I  have  before  read  con- 
tains the  first  public  annunciation  of  that  happy  reconcilia- 
tion of  conflicting  interests,  personal  and  political,  which 
brought  the  East  and  West  together  and  locked  in  a  fraternal 
embrace  the  two  great  orators  of  the  East  and  the  West. 

Sir,  it  was  on  the  18th  of  January,  1825,  while  the  result 
of  the  presidential  election  in  the  House  of  Representatives 
was  still  doubtful,  while  the  whole  country  was  looking  with 
intense  anxiety  to  that  legislative  hall  where  the  mighty 
drama  was  so  soon  to  be  acted,  that  we  saw  the  leaders  of  two 
great  parties  in  the  House  and  in  the  nation  taking  sweet 
counsel  together,"  and  in  a  celebrated  debate  on  the  Cumber- 
land Road  fighting  side  by  side  for  Western  interests. 

It  was  on  that  memorable  occasion  that  the  senator  from 
Massachusetts  held  out  the  white  flag  to  the  West  and  uttered 
those  liberal  sentiments  which  he  yesterday  so  indignantly 
repudiated.  Tben  it  was  that  that  happy  union  between  the 
members  of  the  celebrated  coalition  was  consummated,  whose 
immediate  issue  was  a  president  from  one  quarter  of  the 
Union  with  the  succession  (as  it  was  supposed)  secured  to 
another. 

The  "  American  System,"  before  a  rude,  disjointed,  and 


470 


ROBERT  YOUNG  HAYNE 


misshapen  mass,  now  assumed  form  and  consistency:  then  it 
was  that  it  became  the  settled  policy  of  the  government 
that  this  system  should  be  so  administered  as  to  create  a 
reciprocity  of  interest  and  a  reciprocal  distribution  of  govern- 
ment favors  East  and  West  (the  tariff  and  internal  improv- 
ments),  while  the  South — yes,  sir,  the  impracticable  South — 
was  to  be  "  out  of  your  protection." 

The  gentleman  may  boast  as  much  as  he  pleases  of  the 
friendship  of  'New  England  for  the  West  as  displayed  in  their 
support  of  internal  improvement;  but  when  he  next  intro- 
duces that  topic  I  trust  that  he  will  tell  us  when  that  friend- 
ship commenced,  how  it  was  brought  about,  and  why  it  was 
established. 

Before  I  leave  this  topic  I  must  be  permitted  to  say  that 
the  true  character  of  the  policy  now  pursued  by  the  gentle- 
man from  Massachusetts  and  his  friends  in  relation  to  ap- 
propriations of  land  and  money  for  the  benefit  of  the  West 
is  in  my  estimation  very  similar  to  that  pursued  by  Jacob  of 
old  toward  his  brother  Esau — it  robs  them  of  their  birthright 
for  a  mess  of  pottage. 

The  gentleman  from  Massachusetts,  in  alluding  to  a  re- 
mark of  mine  that  before  any  disposition  could  be  made  of 
the  public  lands  the  national  debt  (for  which  they  stand 
pledged)  must  be  first  paid,  took  occasion  to  intimate  "  that 
the  extraordinary  fervor  which  seems  to  exist  in  a  certain 
quarter  (meaning  the  South,  sir)  for  the  payment  of  the  debt 
arises  from  a  disposition  to  weaken  the  ties  which  bind  the 
people  to  the  Union." 

While  the  gentleman  deals  us  this  blow  he  professes  an 
ardent  desire  to  see  the  debt  speedily  extinguished.  He  must 
excuse  me,  however,  for  feeling  some  distrust  on  that  subject 
until  I  find  this  disposition  manifested  by  something  stronger 


ON   FOOTE'S  RESOLUTION 


471 


than  professions.  I  shall  look  for  acts,  decided  and  unequivo- 
cal acts,  for  the  performance  of  which  an  opportunity  will 
very  soon  (if  I  am  not  greatly  mistaken)  be  afforded. 

Sir,  if  I  were  at  liberty  to  judge  of  the  course  which  that 
gentleman  would  pursue  from  the  principles  which  he  has  laid 
down  in  relation  to  this  matter,  I  should  be  bound  to  conclude 
that  he  will  be  found  acting  with  those  with  whom  it  is  a  dar- 
ling object  to  prevent  the  payment  of  the  public  debt.  He 
tells  us  he  is  desirous  of  paying  the  debt,  because  we  are 
under  an  obligation  to  discharge  it." 

'Now,  sir,  suppose  it  should  happen  that  the  public  creditors 
wdth  whom  we  have  contracted  the  obligation  should  release 
us  from  it  so  far  as  to  declare  their  willingness  to  wait  for  pay- 
ment for  fifty  years  to  come,  provided  only  that  the  interest 
shall  be  punctually  discharged.  The  gentleman  from  Massa- 
chusetts will  then  be  released  from  the  obligation  which  now 
makes  him  desirous  of  paying  the  debt;  and  let  me  tell  the  gen- 
tleman the  holders  of  the  stock  will  not  only  release  us  from 
this  obligation,  but  thev  will  implore,  nay,  they  will  even  pay 
us  not  to  pay  them. 

But,  adds  the  gentleman,  so  iar  as  the  debt  may  have  an 
effect  in  binding  the  debtors  to  the  country,  and  thereby  serv- 
ing as  a  link  to  hold  the  States  together,  he  would  be  glad 
that  it  should  exist  forever.  Surely  then,  sir,  on  the  gentle- 
man's own  principles,  he  must  be  opposed  to  the  payment  of 
the  debt. 

Sir,  let  me  tell  that  gentleman  that  the  South  repudiates  the 
idea  that  a  pecuniary  dependence  on  the  federal  government 
is  one  of  the  legitimate  means  of  holding  the  States  together. 
A  moneyed  interest  in  the  government  is  essentially  a  base  in- 
terest; and  just  so  far  as  it  operates  to  bind  the  feelings  of 
those  who  are  subjected  to  it  to  the  government, — just  so  far 


472 


ROBERT  YOUNG  HAYNE 


as  it  operates  in  creating  sympathies  and  interests  that  would 
not  otherwise  exist, — is  it  opposed  to  all  the  principles  of  free 
government  and  at  war  with  virtue  and  patriotism. 

Sir,  the  link  which  binds  the  public  creditors,  as  such,  to 
their  country,  binds  them  equally  to  all  governments,  whether 
arbitrary  or  free.  In  a  free  government  this  principle  of 
abject  dependence,  if  extended  through  all  the  ramifications 
of  society,  must  be  fatal  to  liberty. 

Already  have  we  made  alarming  strides  in  that  direction. 
The  entire  class  of  manufacturers,  the  holders  of  stock,  with 
their  hundreds  of  millions  of  capital,  are  held  to  the  govern- 
ment by  the  strong  link  of  pecuniary  interests;  millions  of  peo- 
ple— entire  sections  of  country,  interested,  or  believing  them- 
selves to  be  so,  in  the  public  lands  and  the  public  treasure,  are 
bound  to  the  government  by  the  expectation  of  pecuniary 
favors. 

If  this  system  is  carried  much  farther  no  man  can  fail  to  see 
that  every  generous  motive  of  attachment  to  the  country  will 
be  destroyed,  and  in  its  place  will  spring  up  those  low,  grovel- 
ing, base,  and  selfish  feelings  which  bind  men  to  the  footstool 
of  a  despot  by  bonds  as  strong  and  enduring  as  those  which 
attach  them  to  free  institutions.  Sir,  I  would  lay  the  founda- 
tion of  this  government  in  the  affections  of  the  people — 
would  teach  them  to  cling  to  it  by  dispensing  equal  justice, 
and,  above  all,  by  securing  the  blessings  of  liberty  "  to 
"  themselves  and  to  their  posterity." 

The  honorable  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  has  gone  out 
of  his  way  to  pass  a  high  eulogium  on  the  State  of  Ohio'.  In 
the  most  impassioned  tones  of  eloquence  he  described  her 
majestic  march  to  greatness.  He  told  us  that,  having  already 
left  all  the  other  States  far  behind,  she  was  now  passing  by 
Virginia  and  Pennsylvania  and  about  to  take  her  station  by 


ON  foote's  resolution 


473 


the  side  of  New  York.  To  all  this,  sir,  I  was  disposed  most  cor- 
dially to  respond.  When,  however,  the  gentleman  proceeded 
to  contrast  the  State  of  Ohio  with  Kentucky,  to  the  disadvan- 
tage of  the  latter,  I  listened  to  him  with  regret ;  and  when  he 
proceeded  further  to  attribute  the  great,  and,  as  he  supposed, 
acknowledged  superiority  of  the  former  in  population,  wealth, 
and  general  prosperity,  to  the  policy  of  Nathan  Dane,  of 
Massachusetts,  which  had  secured  to  the  people  of  Ohio  (by 
the  Ordinance  of  1787)  a  population  of  freemen,!  will  confess 
that  my  feelings  suffered  a  revulsion  which  I  am  now  unable 
to  describe  in  any  language  sufficiently  respectful  toward  the 
gentleman  from  Massachusetts.  In  contrasting  the  State  of 
Ohio  with  Kentucky  for  the  purpose  of  pointing  out  the  supe- 
riority of  the  former  and  of  attributing  that  superiority  to  the 
existence  of  slavery  in  the  one  State  and  its  absence  in  the 
other,  I  thought  I  could  discern  the  very  spirit  of  the  Missouri 
question  intruded  into  this  debate  for  objects  best  known  to 
the  gentleman  himself. 

Did  that  gentleman,  sir,  when  he  formed  the  determination 
to  cross  the  Southern  border  in  order  to  invade  the  State  of 
South  Carolina,  deem  it  prudent  or  necessary  to  enlist  under 
his  banners  the  prejudices  of  the  world,  which,  like  Swiss 
troops,  may  be  engaged  in  any  cause  and  are  prepared  to  serve 
under  any  leader? 

Did  he  desire  to  avail  himself  of  those  remorseless  allies,  the 
passions  of  mankind,  of  which  it  may  be  more  truly  said  than 
of  the  savage  tribes  of  the  wilderness,  "  that  their  known  rule 
of  warfare  is  an  indiscriminate  slaughter  of  all  ages,  sexes, 
and  conditions  ?  " 

Or  was  it  supposed,  sir,  that  in  a  premeditated  and  unpro- 
voked attack  upon  the  South  it  was  advisable  to  begin  by  a 
gentle  admonition  of  our  supposed  weakness  in  order  to  pre- 


474 


ROBERT  YOUNG  HAYNE 


vent  US  from  making  that  firm  and  manly  resistance  due  to  our 
own  character  and  our  dearest  interest?  Was  the  significant 
I  hint  of  the  weakness  of  slaveholding  States  when  contrasted 
with  the  superior  strength  of  free  States,  like  the  glare  of  the 
weapon  half  drawn  from  its  scabbard,  intended  to  enforce  the 
lessons  of  prudence  and  patriotism  which  the  gentleman  had 
resolved,  out  of  his  abundant  generosity,  gratuitously  to  bestow 
upon  us? 

Mr.  President,  the  impression  which  has  gone  abroad  of  the 
weakness  of  the  South  as  connected  with  the  slave  question 
exposes  us  to  such  constant  attacks,  has  done  us  so  much  in- 
jury, and  is  calculated  to  produce  such  infinite  mischiefs,  that 
I  embrace  the  occasion  presented  by  the  remarks  of  the  gentle- 
man from  Massachusetts  to  declare  that  w^e  are  ready  to  meet 
the  question  promptly  and  fearlessly.  It  is  one  from  which 
we  are  not  disposed  to  shrink  in  whatever  form  or  imder 
whatever  circumstances  it  may  be  pressed  upon  us. 

We  are  ready  to  make  up  the  issue  with  the  gentleman  as  to 
the  influence  of  slavery  on  individual  and  national  character, 
on  the  prosperity  and  greatness  either  of  the  United  States  or 
of  particular  States.  Sir,  when  arraigned  before  the  bar  of 
public  opinion  on  this  charge  of  slavery  we  can  stand  up  with 
conscious  rectitude,  plead  not  guilty,  and  put  ourselves  upon 
God  and  our  country.  Sir,  we  will  not  consent  to  look  at 
slavery  in  the  abstract.  We  will  not  stop  to  inquire  whether 
the  black  man,  as  some  philosophers  have  contended,  is  of  an 
inferior  race,  nor  whether  his  color  and  condition  are  effects  of 
a  curse  inflicted  for  the  offences  of  his  ancestors?  We  deal  in 
no  abstractions.  We  will  not  look  back  to  inquire  whether 
our  fathers  were  guiltless  in  introducing  slaves  into  this  coun- 
try? If  an  inquiry  should  ever  be  instituted  in  these  matters, 
liowever,  it  will  be  found  that  the  profits  of  the  slave-trade 


ON  foote's  resolution 


475 


were  not  confined  to  the  South.  Southern  ships  and  Southern 
sailors  were  not  the  instruments  of  bringing  slaves  to  the 
shores  of  America,  nor  did  our  merchants  reap  the  profits  of 
that    accursed  traffic." 

But,  sir,  we  will  pass  over  all  this.  If  slavery,  as  it  now 
exists  in  this  country^  be  an  evil,  we  of  the  present  day  found 
it  ready  made  to  our  hands.  Finding  our  lot  cast  among  a 
people  whom  God  had  manifestly  committed  to  our  care  we 
did  not  sit  down  to  speculate  on  abstract  questions  of  theoreti- 
cal liberty.  We  met  it  as  a  practical  question  of  obligation 
and  duty.  We  resolved  to  make  the  best  of  the  situation  in 
which  Providence  had  placed  us,  and  to  fulfill  the  high  trusts 
which  had  devolved  upon  us  as  the  owners  of  slaves  in  the  only 
way  in  which  such  a  trust  could  be  fulfilled  without  spreading 
misery  and  ruin  throughout  the  land. 

We  found  that  we  had  to  deal  with  a  people  whose  physical, 
moral,  and  intellectual  habits  and  character  totally  disqualified 
them  from  the  enjoyment  of  the  blessings  of  freedom.  We 
could  not  send  them  back  to  the  shores  from  whence  their 
fathers  had  been  taken;  their  numbers  forbade  the  thought, 
even  if  we  did  not  know  that  their  condition  here  is  infinitely 
preferable  to  what  it  possibly  could  be  among  the  barren 
sands  and  savage  tribes  of  Africa;  and  it  was  wholly  irrecon- 
cilable with  all  our  notions  of  humanity  to  tear  asunder  the  ten- 
der ties  which  they  had  formed  among  us  to  gratify  the  feel- 
ings of  a  false  philanthropy. 

What  a  commentary  on  the  vdsdom,  justice,  and  humanity 
of  the  Southern  slave-owner  is  presented  by  the  example  of 
certain  benevolent  associations  and  charitable  individuals  else- 
where !  Shedding  weak  tears  over  sufferings  which  had  exist- 
ence only  in  their  own  sickly  imaginations,  these  "  friends  of 
humanity  "  set  themselves  systematically  to  work  to  seduce  the 


476 


ROBERT  YOUNG  HAYNE 


slaves  of  the  South  from  their  masters.  By  means  of  mission- 
aries and  political  tracts  the  scheme  was  in  a  great  measure 
successful.  Thousands  of  these  deluded  victims  of  fanaticism 
were  seduced  into  the  enjoyment  of  freedom  in  our  northern 
cities. 

And  what  has  been  the  consequence?  Go  to  these  cities 
now  and  ask  the  question.  Visit  the  dark  and  narrow  lanes 
and  obscure  recesses  which  have  been  assigned  by  common  con- 
sent as  the  abodes  of  those  outcasts  of  the  world — the  free  peo- 
|)le  of  color.  Sir,  there  does  not  exist  on  the  face  of  the  whole 
earth  a  population  so  poor,  so  wretched,  so  vile,  so  loathsome, 
so  utterly  destitute  of  all  the  comforts,  conveniences,  and 
decencies  of  life  as  the  unfortunate  blacks  of  Philadelphia, 
New  York,  and  Boston.  Liberty  has  been  to  them  the  great- 
est of  calamities,  the  heaviest  of  curses. 

Sir,  I  have  had  some  opportunities  of  making  comparison 
betwejen  the  condition  of  the  free  negroes  of  the  north  and  the 
slaves  of  the  south,  and  the  comparison  has  left  not  only  an 
indelible  impression  of  the  superior  advantages  of  the  latter, 
but  has  gone  far  to  reconcile  me  to  slavery  itself.  ITever  have 
I  felt  so  forcibly  that  touching  description,  "  The  foxes  have 
holes,  and  the  birds  of  the  air  have  nests,  but  the  Son  of  Man 
hath  not  where  to  lay  his  head,"  as  when  I  have  seen  this 
unhappy  race,  naked  and  houseless,  almost  starving  in  the 
streets,  and  abandoned  by  all  the  world.  Sir,  I  have  seen,  in 
the  neighborhood  of  one  of  the  most  moral,  religious,  and 
refined  cities  of  the  north,  a  family  of  free  blacks  driven  to 
the  caves  of  the  rocks,  and  there  obtaining  a  precarious  sub- 
sistence from  charity  and  plunder. 

"When  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  adopts  and  reiter- 
ates the  old  charge  of  weakness  as  resulting  from  slavery  I 
must  be  permitted  to  call  for  the  proof  of  those  blighting 


ON  FOOTP:  S  RESOLUTION 


477 


effects  which  he  ascribes  to  its  influence.  I  suspect  that  when 
the  subject  is  closely  examined  it  will  be  found  that  there 
is  not  much  force  even  on  the  plausible  objection  of  the  want 
of  physical  power  in  slave-holding  States.  The  power  of  a 
country  is  compounded  of  its  population  and  its  wealth,  and  in 
modem  times,  where,  from  the  very  form  and  structure  of 
society,  by  far  the  greater  portion  of  the  people  must,  even 
during  the  continuance  of  the  most  desolating  wars,  be  em- 
ployed in  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  and  other  peaceful  pur- 
suits, it  may  be  well  doubted  whether  slave-holding  States,  by 
reason  of  a  superior  value  of  their  productions  are  not  able 
to  maintain  a  number  of  troops  in  the  field  fully  equal  to  what 
could  be  supported  by  States  with  a  larger  white  population 
but  not  possessed  of  equal  resources.  .  .  . 

Mr.  President,  I  wish  it  to  be  distinctly  understood  that  all 
the  remarks  I  have  made  on  this  subject  are  intended  to  be 
exclusively  applied  to  a  party  which  I  have  described  as  the 

Peace  Party  of  'New  England,''  embracing  the  political  asso^ 
ciates  of  the  senator  from  Massachusetts! — a  party  which  con- 
trolled the  operations  of  that  State  during  the  embargo  and  the 
war,  and  who  are  justly  chargeable  with  all  the  measures  I 
have  reprobated.  Sir,  nothing  has  been  further  from  my 
thoughts  than  to  impeach  the  character  or  conduct  of  the 
people  of  ISTew  England.  For  their  steady  habits  and  hardy 
virtues  I  trust  I  entertain  a  becoming  respect.  I  fully  sub- 
scribe to  the  truth  of  the  description  given  before  the  Revolu- 
tion by  one  whose  praise  is  the  highest  eulogy,  "  that  the  perse- 
verance of  Holland,  the  activity  of  France,  and  the  dexterous 
and  firm  sagacity  of  English  enterprise  have  been  more  than 
equalled  by  this  recent  people."  Hardy,  enterprising,  saga- 
cious, industrious,  and  moral,  the  people  of  New  England  of 
the  present  day  are  worthy  of  their  ancestors.    Still  less,  Mr. 


478 


ROBERT  YOUNG  HAYNE 


President,  has  it  been  my  intention  to  say  anything  that  could 
be  construed  into  a  want  of  respect  for  that  party  who,  tramp- 
ling on  all  narrow,  sectional  feelings,  have  been  tme  to  their 
principles  in  the  worst  times, — I  mean  the  Democracy  of  New 
England. 

Sir,  I  will  declare  that,  highly  as  I  appreciate  the  Democ- 
racy of  the  South,  I  consider  even  higher  praise  to  be  due  to 
the  Democracy  of  New  England,  who  have  maintained  their 
principles  through  good  and  through  evil  report,^'  who  at 
every  period  of  our  national  history  have  stood  up  manfully 
for  "  their  country,  their  whole  country,  and  nothing  but 
their  country/'  In  the  great  political  revolution  of  '98  they 
were  found  united  with  the  Democracy  of  the  South,  march- 
ing under  the  banner  of  the  constitution,  led  on  by  the  patri- 
arch of  liberty  in  search  of  the  land  of  political  promise  which 
they  lived  not  only  to  behold  but  to  possess  and  to  enjoy. 

Again,  sir,  in  the  darkest  and  most  gloomy  period  of  the 
war,  when  our  country  stood  single-handed  against  the  con- 
queror of  the  conquerors  of  the  world,"  when  all  about  and 
around  them  was  dark,  and  dreary,  disastrous  and  discourag- 
ing, they  stood  a  Spartan  band  in  that  narrow  pass  where  the 
honor  of  their  country  was  to  be  defended  or  to  find  its  grave. 

And  in  the  last  great  struggle,  involving,  as  we  believe,  the 
very  existence  of  the  principle  of  popular  sovereignty,  where 
were  the  Democracy  of  New  England?  Where  they  always 
have  been  found,  sir,  struggling  side  by  side  with  their  breth- 
ren of  the  South  and  the  West  for  popular  rights,  and  assist- 
ing in  that  glorious  triumph  by  which  the  man  of  the  people 
was  elevated  to  the  highest  office  in  their  gift. 

Wlio,  then,  Mr.  President,  are  the  true  friends  of  the 
Union?  Those  who  would  confine  the  federal  government 
strictly  within  the  limits  prescribed  by  the  constitution;  who 


ON  foote's  resolution 


479 


would  preserve  to  the  States  and  the  people  all  powers  not 
expressly  delegated;  who  would  make  this  a  federal  and  not 
a  national  union,  and  who,  administering  the  government  in 
a  spirit  of  equal  justice,  would  make  it  a  blessing  and  not  a 
curse.  And  who  are  its  enemies?  Those  who  are  in  favor 
of  consolidation,  who  are  constantly  stealing  power  from  the 
States  and  adding  strength  to  the  federal  government.  Who, 
assuming  an  unwarrantable  jurisdiction  over  the  States  and 
the  people,  undertake  to  regulate  the  whole  industry  and  cap- 
ital of  the  country.  But,  sir,  of  all  descriptions  of  men,  I 
consider  those  as  the  worst  enemies  of  the  Union  who  sacrifice 
the  equal  rights  which  belong  to  every  member  of  the  confed- 
eracy to  combinations  of  interested  majorities  for  personal  or 
political  objects. 

But  the  gentleman  apprehends  no  evil  from  the  dependence 
of  the  States  on  the  federal  government;  he  can  see  no  danger 
of  corruption  from  the  influence  of  money  or  of  patronage. 
Sir,  I  know  that  it  is  supposed  to  be  a  wise  saying  that 
patronage  is  a  source  of  weakness,"  and  in  support  of  that 
maxim  it  has  been  said  that  "  every  ten  appointments  made 
a  hundred  enemies." 

But  I  am  rather  inclined  to  think,  with  the  eloquent  and 
sagacious  orator  now  reposing  on  his  laurels  on  the  banks  of 
the  Roanoke,  that  ^'  the  power  of  conferring  favors  creates 
a  crowd  of  dependents;"  he  gave  a  forcible  illustration  of  the 
truth  of  the  remark,  when  he  told  us  of  the  effect  of  holding 
up  the  savory  morsel  to  the  eager  eyes  of  the  hungry  hounds 
gathered  around  his  door.  It  mattered  not  whether  the  gift 
was  bestowed  on  Towser  or  Sweetlips,  Tray,  Blanche,  or 
Sweetheart;"  while  held  in  suspense  they  were  all  governed 
by  a  nod,  and  when  the  morsel  was  bestowed  the  expectation 
of  the  favors  of  to-morrow  kept  up  the  subjection  of  to-day. 


480  EGBERT  YOUNG  HAYNE 

The  senator  from  Massachusetts,  in  denouncing  what  he  is 
pleased  to  call  the  Carolina  doctrine,  has  attempted  to  throw 
ridicule  upon  the  idea  that  a  State  has  any  constitutional  rem- 
edy, by  the  exercise  of  its  sovereign  authority,  against  "  a 
gross,  palpable,  and  deliberate  violation  of  the  constitution." 
He  calls  it  "  an  idle  or  ^'  ridiculous  notion,"  or  something 
to  that  effect,  and  added  that  it  would  make  the  Union  "  a 
mere  rope  of  sand." 

ISTow,  sir,  as  the  gentleman  has  not  condescended  to  enter 
into  any  examination  of  the  question,  and  has  been  satisfied 
with  throwing  the  weight  of  his  authority  into  the  scale,  I 
do  not  deem  it  necessary  to  do  more  than  to  throw  into  the 
opposite  scale  the  authority  on  which  South  Carolina  relies; 
and  there  for  the  present  I  am  perfectly  willing  to  leave  the 
controversy.  The  South  Carolina  doctrine — that  is  to  say,  the 
doctrine  contained  in  an  exposition  reported  by  a  committee 
of  the  legislature  in  December,  1828,  and  published  by  their 
authority — is  the  good  old  Republican  doctrine  of  '98 — the 
doctrine  of  the  celebrated  ^'  Virginia  Eesolutions  "  of  that 
year,  and  of  "  Madison's  Report  "  of  '99. 

It  will  be  recollected  that  the  legislature  of  Virginia,  in 
December,  1898,  took  into  consideration  the  Alien  and  Sedi- 
tion Laws,  then  considered  by  all  republicans  as  a  gross  viola- 
tion of  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  on  that  day 
passed,  among  others,  the  following  resolution : 

"  The  General  Assembly  doth  explicitly  and  peremptorily 
declare  that  it  views  the  powers  of  the  federal  government 
as  resulting  from  the  compact  to  which  the  States  are  parties, 
as  limited  by  the  plain  sense  and  intention  of  the  instrument 
constituting  that  compact,  as  no  further  valid  than  they  are 
authorized  by  the  grants  enumerated  in  that  compact;  and 
that  in  case  of  a  deliberate,  palpable,  and  dangerous  exercise 
of  other  powers  not  granted  by  the  said  compact,  the  States 


ON  foote's  resolution 


481 


who  are  parties  thereto  have  the  right  and  are  in  duty  bound 
to  interpose  for  arresting  the  progress  of  the  evil,  and  for 
maintaining  within  their  respective  limits  the  authorities, 
rights,  and  liberties  appertaining  to  them." 

In  addition  to  the  above  resolution  the  General  Assembly 
of  Virginia  appealed  to  the  other  States  in  the  confidence 
that  they  would  concur  with  that  commonwealth,  that  the 
act  aforesaid  (the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws)  are  unconstitu- 
tional, and  that  the  necessary  and  proper  measures  would 
be  taken  by  each  for  co-operating  with  Virginia  in  maintain- 
ing unimpaired  the  authorities,  rights,  and  liberties  reserved 
to  the  States  respectively  or  to  the  people." 

The  legislatures  of  several  of  the  New  England  States,  hav- 
ing, contrary  to  the  expectation  of  the  legislature  of  Virginia, 
expressed  their  dissent  from  these  doctrines;  the  subject  came 
up  again  for  consideration  during  the  session  of  1799-1800 
when  it  was  referred  to  a  select  committee  by  whom  was  made 
that  celebrated  report  which  is  familiarly  known  as  "  Mad- 
ison's Report,"  and  which  deserves  to  last  as  long  as  the  con- 
stitution itself. 

In  that  report,  which  was  subsequently  adopted  by  the  legis- 
lature, the  whole  subject  was  deliberately  re-examined,  and 
the  objection  urged  against  the  Virginia  doctrines  carefully 
considered.  The  result  was  that  the  legislature  of  Virginia 
reaffirmed  all  the  principles  laid  down  in  the  resolutions  of 
1798,  and  issued  to  the  world  that  admirable  report  which 
has  stamped  the  character  of  Mr.  Madison  as  the  preserver 
of  that  constitution  which  he  had  contributed  so  largely  to 
create  and  establish. 

I  will  here  quote  from  Mr.  Madison's  report  one  or  two 
passages  which  bear  more  immediately  on  the  point  in  con- 
troverr^y : 

Vol.  5—31 


482  EGBERT  YOUNG  HAYNE 

"  The  resolution,  having  taken  this  view  of  the  federal  com- 
pact, proceeds  to  infer  '  that  in  case  of  a  deliberate,  palpable, 
and  dangerous  exercise  of  other  powers  not  granted  by  the 
said  compact,  the  States  who  are  parties  thereto  have  the 
right,  and  are  in  duty  bound,  to  interpose  for  arresting  the 
progress  of  the  evil,  and  i^r  maintaining  within  their  respec- 
tive limits  the  authorities,  right,  and  liberties  appertaining  to 
them.' 

^'  It  appears  to  your  committee  to  be  a  plain  principle, 
founded  in  common  sense,  illustrated  by  common  practice, 
and  essential  to  the  nature  of  compacts,  that,  where  resort 
can  be  had  to  no  tribunal  superior  to  the  authority  of  the 
parties,  the  parties  themselves  must  be  the  rightful  judges 
in  the  last  resort  whether  the  bargain  made  has  been  pursued 
or  violated.  The  constitution  of  the  United  States  was 
formed  by  the  sanction  of  the  States,  given  by  each'  in  its 
sovereign  capacity.  It  adds  to  the  stability  and  dignity  as 
well  as  to  the  authority  of  the  constitution  that  it  rests  upon 
this  legitimate  and  solid  foundation.  Thfe  States,  then,  being 
the  parties  to  the  constitutional  compact,  and  in  their  sov- 
ereign capacity,  it  follows  of  necessity,  that  there  can  be  no 
tribunal  above  their  authority  to  decide  in  the  last  resort 
whether  the  compact  made  by  them  be  violated;  and,  conse- 
quently, that,  as  the  parties  to  it  they  must  themselves  decide 
in  the  last  resort  such  questions  as  may  be  of  sufficient  mag- 
nitude to  require  their  interposition. 

^'  The  resolution  has  guarded  against  any  misapprehension 
of  its  object  by  expressly  requiring  for  such  an  interposition 
^  the  case  of  a  deliberate,  palpable,  and  dangerous  breach  of 
the  constitution  by  the  exercise  of  powers  not  granted  by  it.' 
It  must  be  a  case,  not  of  a  light  and  transient  nature,  but  of 
a  nature  dangerous  to  the  great  purposes  for  which  the  con- 
stitution was  established. 

"  But  the  resolution  has  done  more  than  guard  against  mis- 
construction by  expressly  referring  to  cases  of  a  deliberate, 
palpable,  and  dangerous  nature.  It  specifies  the  object  of 
the  interposition  which  it  contemplates  to  be  solely  that  of 
arresting  the  progress  of  the  evil  of  usurpation,  and  of  main- 
taining the  authoritios.  rights,  and  liberties  appertaining  to 
the  States  as  parties  to  the  constitution. 


On  footk's  liEsoj.uTioN 


483 


^'  ]?rom  this  view  of  the  resolution  it  would  seem  inconceiv- 
able that  it  can  incur  any  just  disapprobation  from  those  who, 
laying  aside  all  momentary  impressions  and  recollecting  the 
genuine  source  and  object  of  the  federal  constitution,  shall 
candidly  and  accurately  interpret  the  meaning  of  the  general 
assembly.  If  the  deliberate  exercise  of  dangerous  powers, 
palpably  withheld  by  the  constitution,  could  not  justify  the 
parties  to  it  in  interposing,  even  so  far  as  to  arrest  the  progress 
of  the  evil  and  thereby  to  preserve  the  constitution  itself  as 
well  as  to  provide  for  the  safety  of  the  parties  to  it,  there 
would  be  an  end  to  all  relief  from  usurped  power  and  a  direct 
subversion  of  the  rights  specified  or  recognized  under  all  the 
State  constitutions,  as  well  as  a  plain  denial  of  the  funda- 
mental principles  on  which  our  independence  itself  was  de- 
clared/^ 

But,  sir,  our  authorities  do  not  stop  here.  The  State  of 
Kentucky  responded  to  Virginia,  and  on  the  10th  of  ITovem- 
ber,  1798,  adopted  those  celebrated  resolutions  well  known 
to  have  been  penned  by  the  author  of  the  Declaration  of 
American  Independence.  In  those  resolutions  the  legislature 
of  Kentucky  declare — 

"  That  the  government  created  by  this  compact  was  not 
made  the  exclusive  or  final  judge  of  the  extent  of  the  powders 
delegated  to  itself,  since  that  would  have  made  its  discretion 
and  not  the  constitution  the  measure  of  its  powers ;  but  that, 
as  in  all  other  cases  of  compact  among  parties  having  no 
common  judge,  each  party  has  an  equal  right  to  judge  for 
itself  as  well  of  infractions  as  of  the  mode  and  measure  of 
redress.'' 

At  the  ensuing  session  of  the  legislature  the  subject  was 
re-examined,  and  on  the  14th  of  November,  1799,  the  resolu- 
tions of  the  preceding  year  were  deliberately  reaffirmed,  and 
it  was  among  other  things  solemnly  declared: 

"  That  if  those  who  administer  the  general  government 
be  permitted  to  transgress  the  limits  fixed  by  that  compact, 
by  a  total  disregard  to  the  special  delegations  of  power  therein 


484 


ROBERT  YOUNG  HAYNE 


contained,  an  annihilation  of  the  State  governments  and  the 
erection  upon  their  ruins  of  a  general  consolidated  govern- 
ment will  be  the  inevitable  consequence.  That  the  principles 
of  construction  contended  for  by  sundry  of  the  State  legisla- 
tures, that  the  general  government  is  the  exclusive  judge  of 
the  extent  of  the  powers  delegated  to  it,  stop  nothing  short 
of  despotism ;  since  the  discretion  of  those  who  administer  the 
government,  and  not  the  constitution,  would  be  the  measure 
of  their  powers.  That  the  several  States  who  formed  that 
instrument,  being  sovereign  and  independent,  have  the  un- 
questionable right  to  judge  of  its  infraction,  and  that  a  nulli- 
fication, by  those  sovereignties,  of  all  unauthorized  acts  done 
under  color  of  that  instrument,  is  the  rightful  remedy.'* 

Time  and  experience  confirmed  Mr.  Jefferson's  opinion  on 
this  all-important  point.  In  the  year  1821  he  expressed  him- 
self in  this  emphatic  manner: 

It  is  a  fatal  heresy  to  suppose  that  either  our  State  gov- 
ernments are  superior  to  the  federal  or  the  federal  to  the 
State;  neither  is  authorized  literally  to  decide  which  belongs 
to  itself  or  its  copartner  in  government;  in  differences  of 
opinion  between  their  different  sets  of  public  servants  the 
appeal  is  to  neither,  but  to  their  employers  peaceably  assem- 
bled by  their  representatives  in  convention." 

The  opinion  of  Mr.  Jefferson  on  this  subject  has  been  so 
repeatedly  and  so  solemnly  expressed  that  they  may  be  said 
to  have  been  among  the  most  fixed  and  settled  convictions  of 
his  mind. 

In  the  protest  prepared  by  him  for  the  legislature  of  Vir- 
ginia in  December,  1825,  in  respect  to  the  powers  exercised 
by  the  federal  government  in  relation  to  the  tariff  and  internal 
improvements,  which  he  declares  to  be  ^'  usurpations  of  the 
powers  retained  by  the  States,  mere  interpolations  into  the 
compact  and  direct  infractions  of  it,"  he  solemnly  reasserts 
all  the  principles  of  the  Virginia  resolutions  of  '98 — protests 
against  ^'  these  acts  of  the  federal  branch  of  the  government 


ON  FOOTE  S  RESOLUTION 


485 


as  null  and  void,  and  declares  that,  although  Virginia  would 
consider  a  dissolution  of  the  Union  as  among  the  greatest 
calamities  that  could  befall  them,  yet  it  is  not  the  greatest. 
There  is  one  yet  greater — submission  to  a  government  of  un- 
limited powers.  It  is  only  when  the  hope  of  this  shall  be- 
come absolutely  desperate  that  further  forbearance  could  not 
be  indulged." 

In  his  letter  to  Mr.  Giles,  written  about  the  same  time,  he 
says: 

I  see,  as  you  do,  and  with  the  deepest  affliction,  the  rapid 
strides  with  which  the  federal  branch  of  our  government  is 
advancing  toward  the  usurpation  of  all  the  rights  reserved 
to  the  States,  and  the  consolidation  in  itself  of  all  powers, 
foreign  and  domestic,  and  that  too  by  constructions  which 
leave  no  limits  to  their  powers,  etc.  Under  the  power  to  reg- 
ulate commerce  they  assume  indefinitely  that  also  over  agri- 
culture and  manufactures,  etc.  Under  the  authority  to  es- 
tablish post-roads  they  claim  that  of  cutting  down  mountains 
for  the  construction  of  roads  and  digging  canals,  etc.  And 
what  is  our  resource  for  the  preservation  of  the  constitution? 
Reason  and  argument?  You  might  as  well  reason  and  argue 
with  the  marble  columns  encircling  them,  etc.  Are  we  then 
to  stand  to  our  arma  with  the  hot-headed  Georgian?  ISTo 
[and  I  say  no,  and  South  Carolina  has  said  no],  that  must  be 
the  last  resource.  We  must  have  patience  and  long  endur- 
ance with  our  brethren,  etc.,  and  separate  from  our  compan- 
ions only  when  the  sole  alternatives  left  are  a  dissolution  of 
our  union  with  them  or  submission  to  a  government  without 
limitation  of  powers.  Between  these  two  evils,  when  we 
must  make  a  choice,  there  can  be  no  hesitation." 

Such,  sir,  are  the  high  and  imposing  authorities  in  support 
of  "  the  Carolina  doctrine,"  which  is,  in  fact,  the  doctrine  of 
the  Virginia  resolutions  of  1798. 

Sir,  at  that  day  the  whole  country  was  divided  on  this  very 
question.  It  formed  the  line  of  demarcation  between  the 
federal  and  republican  parties;  and  the  great  political  revolu- 


486 


ROBERT  YOU^"G  HAYNE 


tion  which  then  took  place  turned  upon  the  very  question  in- 
volved in  these  resolutions.  That  question  was  decided  by 
the  people,  and  by  that  decision  the  constitution  was,  in  the 
emphatic  language  of  Mr.  Jefferson,    saved  at  its  last  gasp.'' 

I  should  suppose,  sir,  it  would  require  more  self-respect 
than  any  gentleman  here  would  be  willing  to  assume  to  treat 
lightly  doctrines  derived  from  such  high  resources.  Resting 
on  authority  like  this,  I  will  ask  gentlemen  whether  South 
Carolina  has  not  manifested  a  high  regard  for  the  Union, 
when,  under  a  tyranny  ten  times  more  grievous  than  the 
Alien  and  Sedition  Laws,  she  has  hitherto  gone  no  further 
than  to  petition,  remonstrate,  and  to  solemnly  protest  against 
a  series  of  measures  which  she  believes  to  be  wholly  uncon- 
stitutional and  utterly  destructive  of  her  interests.  Sir, 
South  Carolina  has  not  gone  one  step  further  than  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son himself  was  disposed  to  go  in  relation  to  the  present  sub- 
ject of  our  present  complaints;  not  a  step  further  than  the 
statesmen  from  New  England  were  disposed  to  go  under  sim- 
ilar circumstances;  no  further  than  the  senator  from  Massa- 
chusetts himself  once  considered  as  within  the  limits  of  a 
constitutional  opposition."  The  doctrine  that  it  is  the  right 
of  a  State  to  judge  of  the  violations  of  the  constitution  on 
the  part  of  the  federal  government  and  to  protect  her  citizens 
from  the  operations  of  unconstitutional  laws  was  held  by  the 
enlightened  citizens  of  Boston  who  assembled  in  Faneuil 
Hall  on  the  25th  of  January,  1809.  They  state  in  that  cele- 
brated memorial  that  ^'  they  looked  only  to  the  State  legis- 
lature, who  were  competent  to  devise  relief  against  the  un- 
constitutional acts  of  the  general  government.  That  your 
power  (say  they)  is  adequate  to  that  object  is  evident  from 
the  organization  of  the  confederacy." 

A  distinguished  senator  from  one  of  the  New  England 


ON  foote's  resolution 


487 


States  [Mr.  Hillhouse],  in  a  speech  delivered  here  on  a  bill 
for  enforcing  the  embargo  declared: 

"  I  feel  myself  bound  in  conscience  to  declare  (lest  the 
blood  of  those  who  shall  fall  in  the  execution  of  this  measure 
shall  be  on  my  head)  that  I  consider  this  to  be  an  act  which 
directs  a  mortal  blow  at  the  liberties  of  my  country;  an  act 
containing  unconstitutional  provisions  to  which  the  people 
are  not  bound  to  submit,  and  to  which  in  my  opinion  they 
will  not  submit." 

And  the  senator  from  Massachusetts  himself,  in  a  speech 
delivered  on  the  same  subject  in  the  other  House,  said: 

This  opposition  is  constitutional  and  legal;  it  is  also  con- 
scientious. It  rests  on  settled  and  sober  conviction  that  such 
policy  is  destructive  to  the  interests  of  the  people  and  danger- 
ous to  the  being  of  government.  The  experience  of  every 
day  confirms  these  sentiments.  Men  who  act  from  such 
motives -are  not  to  be  discouraged  by  trifling  obstacles  nor 
awed  by  any  dangers.  They  know  the  limit  of  constitutional 
opposition;  up  to  that  limit,  at  their  own  discretion,  they 
will  walk,  and  walk  fearlessly." 

How  the  being  of  the  government "  was  to  be  endan- 
gered by  "  constitutional  opposition  "  to  the  embargo  I  leave 
to  the  gentleman  to  explain. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen,  Mr.  President,  that  the  South  Carolina 
doctrine  is  the  republican  doctrine  of  '98;  that  it  was  promul- 
gated by  the  fathers  of  the  faith;  that  it  was  maintained  by 
Virginia  and  Kentucky  in  the  worst  of  times ;  that  it  consti- 
tuted the  very  pivot  on  which  the  political  revolution  of  that 
day  turned;  that  it  embraces  the  very  principles  the  triumph 
of  which  at  that  time  saved  the  constitution  at  its  last  gasp, 
and  which  New  England  statesmen  were  not  unwilling  to 
adopt  when  they  believed  themselves  to  be  the  victims  of 
unconstitutional  legislation.    Sir,  as  to  the  doctrine  that  the 


488 


ROBERT  YOUNG  HAYNE 


federal  government  is  the  exclusive  judge  of  the  extent  as 
well  as  the  limitations  of  its  powers,  it  seems  to  me  to  be 
utterly  subversive  of  the  sovereignty  and  independence  of 
the  States. 

It  makes  but  little  difference  in  my  estimation  whether 
Congress  or  the  Supreme  Court  are  invested  with  this  poTver. 
If  the  federal  government  in  all  or  any  of  its  departments 
is  to  prescribe  the  limits  of  its  own  authority,  and  the  States 
are  bound  to  submit  to  the  decision  and  are  not  allowed  to 
examine  and  decide  for  themselves  when  the  barriers  of  the 
constitution  shall  be  overleaped,  this  is  practically  "  a  govern- 
ment without  limitation  of  powers." 

The  States  are  at  once  reduced  to  mere  petty  corporations 
and  the  people  are  entirely  at  your  mercy.  I  have  but  one 
word  more  to  add.  In  all  the  efforts  that  have  been  made 
by  South  Carolina  to  resist  the  unconstitutional  laws  which 
Congress  has  extended  over  them,  she  has  kept  steadily  in 
view  the  preservation  of  the  Union  by  the  only  means  by 
which  she  believes  it  can  be  long  preserved — a  firm,  manly, 
and  steady  resistance  against  usurpation. 

The  measures  of  the  federal  government  have,  it  is  true, 
prostrated  her  interests,  and  will  soon  involve  the  whole  South 
in  irretrievable  ruin.  But  even  this  evil,  great  as  it  is,  is  not 
the  chief  ground  of  our  complaints.  It  is  the  principle  in- 
volved in  the  contest,  a  principle  which,  substituting  the  dis- 
cretion of  Congress  for  the  limitations  of  the  constitution, 
brings  the  States  and  the  people  to  the  feet  of  the  federal 
government  and  leaves  them  nothing  they  can  call  their  own. 

Sir,  if  the  measures  of  the  federal  government  were  less 
oppressive  we  should  still  strive  against  this  usurpation.  The 
South  is  acting  on  a  principle  she  has  always  held  sacred — 
resistance  to  unauthorized. taxation. 


ON  footk's  resolution 


489 


These,  sir,  are  the  principles  which  induced  the  immortal 
Hampden  to  resist  the  payment  of  a  tax  of  twenty  shillings. 
Would  twenty  shillings  have  ruined  his  fortune?  No!  but 
the  payment  of  half  twenty  shillings  on  the  principle  on  which 
it  was  demanded  would  have  made  him  a  slave. 

Sir,  if  in  acting  on  these  high  motives,  if  animated  by  that 
ardent  love  of  libei*ty  which  has  always  been  the  most  prom- 
inent trait  in  the  Southern  character,  we  should  be  hurried 
beyond  the  bounds  of  a  cold  and  calculating  prudence,  who 
is  there  with  one  noble  and  generous  sentiment  in  his  bosom 
that  would  not  be  disposed,  in  the  language  of  Burke,  to  ex- 
claim.   You  must  pardon  something  to  the  spirit  of  liberty !" 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 


3  0112  100604658 


